BNU brings home Roebuck trophy in Varsity ’24 win

Buckinghamshire New University has won the annual Varsity fixture against University of Roehampton by 8.5 points to 6.5 points, the university’s first win in 5 years. 

The annual contest is an opportunity for students to showcase their competitive spirits across several sports including but not limited to: Badminton, Dance, Football and Volleyball, and compete against their counterparts from the University of Roehampton. The university that scores the most points across the games is crowned winner and awarded the Roebuck trophy to display until the following year. 

The competition began with BNU Dance scoring a higher-than-average score of 67 over Roehampton’s 66, heading off the three-day event with a 2.5 - 1.5 points lead. The second day saw a 1-1 draw on Men’s Football and a 5-0 win to BNU in Men’s Hockey with James Upson scoring an hattrick. This was followed by Ladies Hockey who narrowly lost 2-1 as they played in the torrential rain. Heading into the third and final day BNU competed in Football, Rugby and Volleyball where the suspense was building, and the tensions were high between the two universities as the teams made their attempts to take home the Roebuck trophy.

Due to reasons beyond control Women’s Volleyball was called off after the 4^th set, with the match rescheduled for nearly a month later, leaving the final Varsity score of 7.5 (BNU) - 6.5 points (Roehampton) hanging in the balance.

Despite these challenges and knowing that they would have to play from the beginning, BNU’s Volleyball team didn’t let this diminish their resolve and persevered in the re-match, finishing with a 3-0 win, and updating the final Varsity score to 8.5 - 6.5 points.

Women’s Volleyball captain Karla Lozada said:

“…being allowed to play one last time with my girls is a privilege and I couldn’t have been happier with the results”