At the All Ireland Colleges & Universities Volleyball League Finals in UCD on Wednesday 1st April, a brilliant performance from St Pats Women's Volleyball Team, saw them bow out in the semi finals losing by 2 Sets to 0 against their season long rivals DCU.
The first set started tightly with nothing between each team as there was obvious signs of nerves as both teams were afraid to make a mistake. However after some excellent serving from DCU they soon opened up a 12-7 lead and it was always going to be hard to claw back but St Pats broke back with some fine serving of their own with Hanna O'Connor, Sarah Kearns and Moira Morley putting DCU under pressure to bring the scores to 16-12. This was as close as this set got for St Pats after a number of unforced errors helped to give DCU the set 25-16.
A very determined St Pats Team were never going to roll over and were inspired by top class defensive play by Lorraine Sarsfield who covered every inch of the court to try play every point and this really helped as St Pats took the 2nd set to DCU, leading throughout the set with some of the teams best plays of the season, working for every point and making the game very difficult for DCU. The attack was lead by Hanna O'Connor who on a number of times found the gaps in the DCU defence to give St Pats a comfortable lead. As the set went on it looked like St Pats would take the set after some excellent serving from Sarah Kearns, Moira Morley and Laura Tighe also chipping in with a number of points.
It took one error to allow DCU back into the game and they took their opportunity scoring 5 points in a row to bring the scores to 22-22, DCU then took the lead for the 1st time in the set 24-22, setting themselves up for match point, however the determination of the St Pats team got the score back to 24-24. It was however short lived as DCU took the next two points to win the set and game 26-24 after an unfortunate attack from O'Connor went into the net.
With a small squad of only 7 players all Season, each player stuck it out and show tremendous character to get the team to the semi final and were very unfortunate to miss out on the Final spot.
DCU went onto Final against UCD losing 2-0.

Report - Volleyball Association of Ireland Championships 2008

At the weekends National Volleyball Championships in UCD a spirited performance from St Pats Volleyball Club making their debut in a National Competition saw them bow out in the semi finals by the narrowest of margins losing by 1 point to current National League Division 2 table toppers Dublin VC.
St Pats entered the Championships under the Irish of Coláiste Phádraig which left most people asking the question of "who's that team?".
After being drawn in group 1 alongside National League sides Newbridge VC, Loughrea VC and the Ireland International Junior B team it appeared that a tough Saturday morning was on the cards. However in the first game against the Ireland Junior B Team it was St Pats who raced into an early 11-5 lead which saw an outstanding defensive display coupled with some brilliant "Setting" from Moira Morley & Victoria Savage giving St Pats the edge, that Ultimately helped the side to a 20-12 victory in the 1st Set. In the second set it was all one way traffic with St Pats convincingly taking the set 21-7.
Up next for St Pats was National League side Loughrea VC in a much tighter game, after the 1st set ended level 15-15 it was all to play for in the second set. After a tense start St Pats looked the more likely to win as the team was spurned on by the fantastic determination of Team Captain Sarah Kearns with each player chasing every ball to ensure they would not let the game slip away and this proved to be the deciding factor as St Pats shocked the early spectators taking the set by 3 points. In the final group game, it was the experienced Division 1 side from Newbridge VC up next for St Pats. Another close game followed with Newbridge winning the 1st set 15-13. The second set was wide open with St Pats attacking at all opportunities looking to claim the set but even with the powerful display by Ashley Tomlin and the consistent Lorraine Sarsfield, Newbridge edged the set 16-13.
At the end of Saturday "Coláiste Phádraig" finished 2nd in their group much to the surprise of everyone in attendance as the pre-tournament odds would have been heavily stacked against the College especially as one of only two non league teams in the competition.

On Sunday morning it was an early start to the quarter final tie against the Ireland Junior International A Team and to put things in perspective, both Ireland teams have been in training camps for the past 2 years along with competing in a number of international tournaments so this was going to be a difficult game.
This spirited St Pats team were not prepared to go home on the early Bus especially after making the trek across the city. With hardly 2 minutes gone in the 1st set, St Pats had stormed into a 6-1 lead and were not prepared to let it slip and soon raced away to a 21-11 victory no thanks to the hard work of Linda Lokkers who performed some excellent defensive duties.
The second set saw the Irish team put up a stronger display and at half way through the set the score was 13-12 in favour of St Pats. The team needed to be freshened up and cue the entry of Sinead Flatley and Laura Tighe which gave the side extra attacking options and this guided St Pats to a comfortable victory.

Next on the list was a semi final against the much fancied Dublin VC. After claiming the first set 17-16 St Pats looked as though another shock was on the cards but after an amazing ding dong second set in which both sides were neck and neck, it was the Dublin team who won the set 17-15 to reach the Final against another National League side Newbridge VC. After missing out on Final berth by 1 point, it was a cruel end for the team after such a brilliant performance from everyone involved. The players showed tremendous determination and character to get so far and to do so well and as the Championships closed everyone then knew about this Coláiste Phadraig team. Such was the performances over the weekend that Aer L