Christmas University Challenge 2018: Matches 6-10 (Monday 31st - Friday 4th)

OK, Happy New Year all! Lets gets started blogging all the remaining quizzing from the festive period, starting with the second week of Christmas UC. I meant to do this yesterday, but events got in the way.

Monday 31st: Sheffield vs Manchester
Sheffield: Bryony Page, Elizabeth Watts, Paul Mason, David Blunkett
Manchester: Simon Brodkin, David Aaronovitch, David Edgar, Matt Allwright

A match where Manchester, who all donned Santa hats after the intros(!), lead for the most part and deserved the win ultimately, though Sheffield kept them in check throughout. In the end, a 115-90 victory for Manchester a fair reflection of the game. A large number of penalties denied Manchester a return later in the week.

Tuesday 1st: Edinburgh vs L.S.E.
Edinburgh: JJ Chalmers, Joanna Cherry, Mitch Benn, Gavin Francis
L.S.E.: Jagjit Chadha, Maya Jaggi, Ekow Eshun, Simon Garfield

L.S.E. led from the start, and though Edinburgh pulled close, they weren't quite able to slightly overhaul the opposition. Shame this was a first round match really. In the end, L.S.E. won 160-120, the highest score of the first round.

Wednesday 2nd: Bristol vs King's
The first semi-final between two teams who scored the same in their first round matches, so a close match seemed likely. In the end, after an even enough start, Bristol pulled away and won comfortably 205-100, though King's have nothing to be ashamed of, a respectable effort.

Thursday 3rd: Peterhouse vs L.S.E.
After their narrow first round win, Peterhouse played much better this time, while L.S.E. failed to carry on the standard of their first round match. The Cambridge side pulled away after a close start, and in the end won 215-60, the highest score of the series overall, though, again, L.S.E. have nothing to be ashamed of.

Friday 4th: Bristol vs Peterhouse
After the last few finals all proved rather one sided mismatches, it was good to have a close final for a change, with both sides playing very well and remaining in touch with each other throughout. In the end, Peterhouse just pulled away later on and won 190-125. Well done them, and well played Bristol too, a great effort.

Another good festive series, an excellent two weeks of quizzing, and a good high standard as well; well done all teams who took part!

Regular series resumes tomorrow evening with Durham vs Keble.