Yet again Lancaster’s Women’s Pool Team has done us proud, upholding their reputation as one of the University’s strongest teams. After winning LUSU’s Team of the Year award last year for their stunning performances, who’d have thought they’d excel themselves this year?
Over the weekend of Week 17, Lancaster’s pool teams headed down to The Vauxhall Holiday Park in Great Yarmouth for the annual BUCS-UPC Eight-ball Pool Championships. To give an idea of the scale of this event, there were a total of 672 competitors and 138 teams from 56 institutions across the country, taking part in men’s and women’s team competitions as well as individual tournaments.
The women’s first team was April Zhou, Megan Proctor and Filsan Tarsey, who competed for the Team Championship. They defeated every team they played, soaring into the final to face ultimate rival, York. They took them down in style, winning 4-1. So it looks like Roses might be in the bag as well as the BUCS Team Championship!
The second team competed for the other title, the Women’s Team Trophy. Victoria Hives, Alice Li and Aro Nugawela took the country by storm and also reached the final. They defeated the University of St Andrews’s first team 4-2, gaining yet another team trophy for Lancaster! Captain Hives told SCAN that she is “tremendously proud of the effort and commitment put in by the team this weekend and extremely pleased with everyone’s performance”.
The individuals tournament also took place over the weekend and Lancaster’s girls were proving strong competition. As the tournament progressed, it suddenly became a very real possibility that Lancaster would take the individuals title too. This is because both Zhou and Proctor had both battled their way to the final four!
Zhou faced the number one seed, Sophie Gibbs-Nicholls from Plymouth University, while Proctor played Sophia Rowlinson from the University of Essex. Both the girls won their games, officially securing the victory for Lancaster. In a strange but exciting turn of events, the teammates then played each other for the official title. After six very tense frames, Zhou won 4-2, gaining the title of BUCS-UPC Women’s Individual Champion. Zhou told SCAN, “Megan and I are good friends so I was very relaxed when I played her in the final, and no matter who won it would still be a Lancaster victory”.
The men’s team also did Lancaster proud amid extremely tough competition. Competing for the Men’s Team Trophy, Lancaster’s third team made it to the semi finals, where they were unfortunately beaten by Bristol firsts 6-3. They received an impressive third place. Lancaster men’s first team also made it to the final 16 of the Men’s Team Championship.
The weekend literally could not have been more of a success for Lancaster Women’s Pool team. Zhou said, “I feel proud to be Lancaster student and part of our girls team!” Hives described it as “one of the best experiences of my time at university” before adding, “bring on Roses”.
