On Tuesday, March 5th, JCU Men’s Basketball and Coed Volleyball teams played their usual weekly games respectively in the UISP and Oroverde Tournaments.

Not a so fortunate faith awaited our teams who both lost against La Rustica Basket (LRB) and Vigna Pia B Volley (VPB).

MEN’S BASKETBALL
It was not an easy game for our Men’s Basketball team who had to face a very competitive and strong team LRB, which is the current top team in the tournament ranking.

The opponents immediately started to dominate the game by lining up a full-court press, which causes a little bit of trouble to our Gladiators and allowed them to score more. Thanks to its defence, LRB was also able to steal many balls on the in-bound, setting an extremely dynamic pace.

“We also committed a few mistakes on the offensive side. Since LRB took the advantage from the very first minutes, we were always in a rush to try and tie the result, but that didn’t help us with in-bounds,” coach Serraino commented.

The first quarter ended 18-28 for LRB.

In the second quarter, JCU reacted in order to reduce the score difference and was able to finish off with a partial result of 19-20. However, this wasn’t enough to overturn the result, and the second quarter ended 38-47 in favor of our rival.

In the third quarter, LRB began again to press more. JCU also lost many opportunities to score, closing the quarter with a result of 61-75.

Last quarter saw another good reaction from our Gladiators who left all of their energy out in field, trying to clutch the opponents, but the buzzer stopped the game too soon, and the game ended 82-90 for LRB.

“The problem we found here was of that of trying to manage their pressing defence, and they were strong, so they were always able to pull it out in one way or another and score,” Serraino continued. “But I’m happy with how the team played because they all gave their best, also considering the fact that we were only 6 players against 15 from the other team.”

Good job, Gladiators! Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose – The important thing here is to always fight until the end and never give up!

MVP – Wilfred Audley thanks to his outstanding performance both in offense and defense.

COED VOLLEYBALL
Another loss for our Coed Volleyball team who still fights without any particular success to come out from this low point.

This time, JCU played against VPB who won 3-0 [25-22; 25-16; 25-12].

JCU started well, playing a good first set, which allowed our Gladiators to gain a significant advantage over VPB. However, towards the end, JCU let the grip, and the opponents were able to overturn the result, winning the set.

” We were winning 18-13 in the first set, and it’s a pity that we lost it at the end,” coach Papari commented. “This is a team that is not used to win, unfortunately, and maybe, sometimes, they feel the tension more, especially when it comes to the crucial points in the game.”

Second and third set, instead, saw a clear dominance from VPB who won the two sets with a large score difference.

“Unfortunately, we can’t get out of this situation,” Papari continued. “We still commit too many basic mistakes during the game, and in the end, it backfires on us.”

Keep working hard, Gladiators, and sooner or later, you will get your reaward!

MVP – Megan Gundrum