February 15, 2009
OUA W-VOLLEYBALL QUARTER-FINAL ROUNDUP: YORK TO HOST FINAL FOUR
TORONTO, Ont. - In one of the most exciting volleyball matches this season, the York Lions women's team defeated the Queen's Gaels 3-2 in an OUA quarter-final match on Saturday in front of a boisterous crowd at Tait McKenzie Centre. With the win, the Lions advance to the OUA Women's Final Four Volleyball Championship tournament next weekend and will host the event on their home court.
Coming into Saturday's contest, the Lions were seeded No. 1 in the OUA East Division after posting a sparkling 18-1 regular season record, while the Gaels were the fourth seed with a 10-9 record. Queen's did not back down against their formidable foes, however, and hung on until the last point as the Lions managed to squeak out a 21-25, 26-24, 25-18, 20-25, 17-15 victory in a two-and-a-half hour marathon.
York drew first blood in the match by wining the first point, but Queen's charged ahead a few minutes later and maintained its pressure on the Lions throughout the first set with a number of big plays, while the Lions appeared nervous. Up 22-11, it looked as though they were going to run away with the set but the Lions managed to claw their way back in, only to lose 25-21.
The second set started out better for the Lions as they jumped out to an early 4-0 lead, but it wasn't long before Queen's erased the deficit and moved back into the lead. The Gaels built a sizeable advantage and led 23-17. Just when it looked as though the Lions were going to end up in a 2-0 hole, they found a new gear and recorded seven straight points to get back into the lead at 24-23. An error by York on set point made for a few tense moments, but the Lions were able to regroup and even the match at one set apiece.
Once again, the Lions began the third set with a flurry of points but soon coughed up the lead to Queen's. However, this time they were able to maintain their composure and close out the set with relative ease to lead 2-1.
In the fourth, York was never able to build the leads it had enjoyed in earlier sets as Queen's continued to chase down every ball that was on its side of the court. The Gaels led early and didn't let the Lions back in to push it to a fifth and deciding set.
It was do-or-die for both teams in the final set and the Gaels appeared to crack first as York gathered steam and built what seemed to be an insurmountable 14-6 lead. With seven match points, it appeared the Lions were headed for the win but the Gaels dug deep and rallied off eight consecutive points to tie the set at 14. York again took the lead at 15-14, only to have the Gaels tie it up again. The Queen's players were getting more and more excited with every point while tension crept across the faces of the Lions women, but a few agonizing points later the ball dropped on the Gaels' side of the net and the match was over.
Joy and relief could been seen on the faces of all the York players at the end of the match as they realized they'd dodged a bullet in this one. Queen's simply would not go away as the women kept alive several points that appeared to be dead, but in the end the talent of the Lions proved to be too much.
Lions rookie Thinesa Sriskandarajah (Scarborough, Ont.) finished with a game-high 24 points (23 kills) and 12 digs, while veteran Candice Paulsen (Scarborough, Ont.) had 20 points, including 16 kills and three services aces. Also recording game highs were setter Nadia Reider (Buenos Aires, Argentina) with 43 assists and libero Antonia Stathakos (Brampton, Ont.), who ended up with 34 digs in the win. Another bright spot for the Lions was rookie Laura Scull (St. Catharines, Ont.), who produced several timely serves when the Lions needed to stay in the match.
Leading the way for the Gaels was rookie Natalie Gray (Oshawa, Ont.), who had 14 assists and 17 digs in the losing effort. Colleen Ogilvie (Calgary, Alta.) finished with 14 points as well while Katie Matthews (Aurora, Ont.) had 13.
The Lions will need to put the struggles from this match behind them this week as they prepare to welcome the best teams in the OUA next weekend for the OUA semi-finals and finals. Also qualifying for the Final Four tournament were the McMaster Marauders, Toronto Varsity Blues and Western Mustangs, who were all victorious this weekend in their respective quarter-final matches.
Source: Lions Athletics
TORONTO 3, OTTAWA 0
TORONTO, Ont. - With a well-balanced attack, the Toronto Varsity Blues picked up right where they left off and defeated the Ottawa Gee-Gees 3-0 (25-20, 25-19, 25-19) on Saturday afternoon at U of T's Athletic Centre.
With the win, the Varsity Blues advance to next weekend's OUA Final Four championship, which will be held at York University.
Fourth-year hitter Kristina Valjas (Toronto, Ont.) opened the first set with a kill and finished it with two big shots down the middle as Toronto rallied back from an early 7-3 deficit to take the opening game 25-20.
Down 11-7, Valjas knocked down the next three balls that came her way, while teammate Heather Bansley (Waterdown, Ont.) sent an array of serves over the net that seemed to handcuff quite a few Gee-Gee returners. This critical rally put the home team up one 12-11 and they wouldn't look back from there.
The second game went the Blues way from the onset. Up 8-4 at the first technical timeout, Toronto would widen its gap on a series on solid rallies, precise hitting, and two of their 11 aces on the day.
With a comfortable 16-9 lead at the second technical timeout, the Blues would close out the second game without much of a challenge the rest of way. Bansley finished things off with a beautiful kill down the middle, giving her team a 25-19 win in the second set.
The third, and what would be the final set, was one of the most exciting. The early stages of the game were close fought. Down 11-10, Ottawa's Tess Edwards (Ottawa, Ont.) serving expertise was on full display, and combined with was untimely Blues errors, she was able to help give her team their first substantial lead of the day, 16-11.
This lead would last until Bansley, the OUA's second-best serving specialist (Ottawa's Edwards was first), was on the baseline ready to serve. The arts and science student calmly stepped and rattled off 10 straight points, including three aces, to put the Blues back in front 22-16.
Third-year science major Diane Burrows (Richmond Hill, Ont.) ended another great rally with a cross-court game-winning kill that confirmed a Blues berth into the OUA semi-finals.
Valjas and Burrows each tallied 12 kills to lead the Blues, while Bansley added eight kills, a game-high 19 digs and six service aces. Michelle Wood (Toronto, Ont.) also added 12 digs in the win.
Ottawa's attack was led by Stephanie McGuinty's (Toronto, Ont.) seven kills, while Karine Gagnon (Granby, Que.) added five. Edwards had 18 assists and eight digs in the loss.
As the Varsity Blues head coach, Kristine Drakich has never fell short of taking her team to the Final Four - this is the 20th straight season in which her teams have made the semi-finals, having won the championship six times.
Source: Varsity Blues Athletics
MCMASTER 3, WATERLOO 1
HAMILTON, Ont. - In an exciting neck in neck battle, the McMaster Marauders women's volleyball team battled their way to the Final Four with a 3-1 victory over the Waterloo Warriors in the OUA quarter-finals on Saturday in the Burridge Gym.
The Marauders were clearly the dominant team in the first set. At the first technical time out the Marauders were up by six and added two more (10-2) before Waterloo took a time out to re-evaluate their game plan.
Struggles continued for the frustrated Warriors and a collision of two black and gold players allowed the ball to hit the hardwood and jump the Marauders up 17-6.
Three points in a row by heavy hitter Kaila Janssen (Oshawa, Ont.) pushed the Marauders to 20 before Sarah Kiernan (Hamilton, Ont.) recorded one of her four blocks of the game for number 21.
Waterloo caught a break when a Marauder serve went long, but nine points was not nearly enough to spark a comeback.
Leftside Larissa Puhach (Burlington, Ont.) sealed the deal 25-9 with a big kill after an exciting rally.
Waterloo started off the second set on the wrong foot with a wide serve. The Marauders ran off with the initial point to open a gap of five before the Warriors started pulling things together. After Waterloo tied things up at six the two teams traded the lead until Heidi Bench's (St. Catharines, Ont.) wide attack pushed the scoreboard 10-9 in favour of opponents.
The Warriors took advantage and lit up the scoreboard.
A blocked Janssen attack brought on the second technical time out of the set with the Warriors leading 16-11. Waterloo crept away off a few Marauder service errors and wild passes and ended the set ahead 25-17.
The lead bounced back in fourth to begin the third set. An ace from Bojana Josipovic (Kitchener, Ont.) helped the Marauder jump to an early 8-5 lead.
Janssen tipped one over the net for the Marauders first point after the break to guide her team in closing their small deficit. Bench brought things within one point with another kill, but the Warriors dumped a tip a hand's length out of Janssen's reach to maintain their lead at 11-9.
Minutes later, the Marauders began their comeback when Bench deflected a shot back into Warriors' territory to tie the game at 12.
Although Waterloo pulled back in front momentarily Janssen was a little too hot to handle as a serve bounced off Josipovic to tie things at 17. Puhach, who collected 15 points during the game, pushed her team back out in front with one of those points at 19-18.
The second set concluded at 25-22 when Josipovic's serve got tangled in the net.
The Marauders were on fire heading into the fourth set. Leading 8-3 at the first technical timeout, the Marauder women came out from the break and took off. Puhach hit another of her three aces and Bench found a hole in a Warrior block to ring in the second technical timeout at 16-4.
Bench brought the Marauders to the match point with a tip and rookie Shannon McRobert (Whitby, Ont.) hammered down her final kill of the night for the 25-9 Marauder victory.
Janssen led the game with 18 points, six aces and 11 kills. Bench dug up 18 Warrior attacks and Holt assisted with 34 of the team's 63 points. Puhach was the Marauder's Player of the Game collecting 15 points, 15 digs, three aces and 10 kills in the win.
For the Warriors, Kate Flanagan (Burlington, Ont.) had 11 points, seven kills, and 12 digs while teammate Josipovic contributed two aces and eight kills.
Source: Marauders Athletics
OUA SCOREBOARD
February 14, 2009
McMaster 3, Waterloo 1
York 3, Queen's 2
Toronto 3, Ottawa 0
Coming into Saturday's contest, the Lions were seeded No. 1 in the OUA East Division after posting a sparkling 18-1 regular season record, while the Gaels were the fourth seed with a 10-9 record. Queen's did not back down against their formidable foes, however, and hung on until the last point as the Lions managed to squeak out a 21-25, 26-24, 25-18, 20-25, 17-15 victory in a two-and-a-half hour marathon.
York drew first blood in the match by wining the first point, but Queen's charged ahead a few minutes later and maintained its pressure on the Lions throughout the first set with a number of big plays, while the Lions appeared nervous. Up 22-11, it looked as though they were going to run away with the set but the Lions managed to claw their way back in, only to lose 25-21.
The second set started out better for the Lions as they jumped out to an early 4-0 lead, but it wasn't long before Queen's erased the deficit and moved back into the lead. The Gaels built a sizeable advantage and led 23-17. Just when it looked as though the Lions were going to end up in a 2-0 hole, they found a new gear and recorded seven straight points to get back into the lead at 24-23. An error by York on set point made for a few tense moments, but the Lions were able to regroup and even the match at one set apiece.
Once again, the Lions began the third set with a flurry of points but soon coughed up the lead to Queen's. However, this time they were able to maintain their composure and close out the set with relative ease to lead 2-1.
In the fourth, York was never able to build the leads it had enjoyed in earlier sets as Queen's continued to chase down every ball that was on its side of the court. The Gaels led early and didn't let the Lions back in to push it to a fifth and deciding set.
It was do-or-die for both teams in the final set and the Gaels appeared to crack first as York gathered steam and built what seemed to be an insurmountable 14-6 lead. With seven match points, it appeared the Lions were headed for the win but the Gaels dug deep and rallied off eight consecutive points to tie the set at 14. York again took the lead at 15-14, only to have the Gaels tie it up again. The Queen's players were getting more and more excited with every point while tension crept across the faces of the Lions women, but a few agonizing points later the ball dropped on the Gaels' side of the net and the match was over.
Joy and relief could been seen on the faces of all the York players at the end of the match as they realized they'd dodged a bullet in this one. Queen's simply would not go away as the women kept alive several points that appeared to be dead, but in the end the talent of the Lions proved to be too much.
Lions rookie Thinesa Sriskandarajah (Scarborough, Ont.) finished with a game-high 24 points (23 kills) and 12 digs, while veteran Candice Paulsen (Scarborough, Ont.) had 20 points, including 16 kills and three services aces. Also recording game highs were setter Nadia Reider (Buenos Aires, Argentina) with 43 assists and libero Antonia Stathakos (Brampton, Ont.), who ended up with 34 digs in the win. Another bright spot for the Lions was rookie Laura Scull (St. Catharines, Ont.), who produced several timely serves when the Lions needed to stay in the match.
Leading the way for the Gaels was rookie Natalie Gray (Oshawa, Ont.), who had 14 assists and 17 digs in the losing effort. Colleen Ogilvie (Calgary, Alta.) finished with 14 points as well while Katie Matthews (Aurora, Ont.) had 13.
The Lions will need to put the struggles from this match behind them this week as they prepare to welcome the best teams in the OUA next weekend for the OUA semi-finals and finals. Also qualifying for the Final Four tournament were the McMaster Marauders, Toronto Varsity Blues and Western Mustangs, who were all victorious this weekend in their respective quarter-final matches.
Source: Lions Athletics
TORONTO 3, OTTAWA 0
TORONTO, Ont. - With a well-balanced attack, the Toronto Varsity Blues picked up right where they left off and defeated the Ottawa Gee-Gees 3-0 (25-20, 25-19, 25-19) on Saturday afternoon at U of T's Athletic Centre.
With the win, the Varsity Blues advance to next weekend's OUA Final Four championship, which will be held at York University.
Fourth-year hitter Kristina Valjas (Toronto, Ont.) opened the first set with a kill and finished it with two big shots down the middle as Toronto rallied back from an early 7-3 deficit to take the opening game 25-20.
Down 11-7, Valjas knocked down the next three balls that came her way, while teammate Heather Bansley (Waterdown, Ont.) sent an array of serves over the net that seemed to handcuff quite a few Gee-Gee returners. This critical rally put the home team up one 12-11 and they wouldn't look back from there.
The second game went the Blues way from the onset. Up 8-4 at the first technical timeout, Toronto would widen its gap on a series on solid rallies, precise hitting, and two of their 11 aces on the day.
With a comfortable 16-9 lead at the second technical timeout, the Blues would close out the second game without much of a challenge the rest of way. Bansley finished things off with a beautiful kill down the middle, giving her team a 25-19 win in the second set.
The third, and what would be the final set, was one of the most exciting. The early stages of the game were close fought. Down 11-10, Ottawa's Tess Edwards (Ottawa, Ont.) serving expertise was on full display, and combined with was untimely Blues errors, she was able to help give her team their first substantial lead of the day, 16-11.
This lead would last until Bansley, the OUA's second-best serving specialist (Ottawa's Edwards was first), was on the baseline ready to serve. The arts and science student calmly stepped and rattled off 10 straight points, including three aces, to put the Blues back in front 22-16.
Third-year science major Diane Burrows (Richmond Hill, Ont.) ended another great rally with a cross-court game-winning kill that confirmed a Blues berth into the OUA semi-finals.
Valjas and Burrows each tallied 12 kills to lead the Blues, while Bansley added eight kills, a game-high 19 digs and six service aces. Michelle Wood (Toronto, Ont.) also added 12 digs in the win.
Ottawa's attack was led by Stephanie McGuinty's (Toronto, Ont.) seven kills, while Karine Gagnon (Granby, Que.) added five. Edwards had 18 assists and eight digs in the loss.
As the Varsity Blues head coach, Kristine Drakich has never fell short of taking her team to the Final Four - this is the 20th straight season in which her teams have made the semi-finals, having won the championship six times.
Source: Varsity Blues Athletics
MCMASTER 3, WATERLOO 1
HAMILTON, Ont. - In an exciting neck in neck battle, the McMaster Marauders women's volleyball team battled their way to the Final Four with a 3-1 victory over the Waterloo Warriors in the OUA quarter-finals on Saturday in the Burridge Gym.
The Marauders were clearly the dominant team in the first set. At the first technical time out the Marauders were up by six and added two more (10-2) before Waterloo took a time out to re-evaluate their game plan.
Struggles continued for the frustrated Warriors and a collision of two black and gold players allowed the ball to hit the hardwood and jump the Marauders up 17-6.
Three points in a row by heavy hitter Kaila Janssen (Oshawa, Ont.) pushed the Marauders to 20 before Sarah Kiernan (Hamilton, Ont.) recorded one of her four blocks of the game for number 21.
Waterloo caught a break when a Marauder serve went long, but nine points was not nearly enough to spark a comeback.
Leftside Larissa Puhach (Burlington, Ont.) sealed the deal 25-9 with a big kill after an exciting rally.
Waterloo started off the second set on the wrong foot with a wide serve. The Marauders ran off with the initial point to open a gap of five before the Warriors started pulling things together. After Waterloo tied things up at six the two teams traded the lead until Heidi Bench's (St. Catharines, Ont.) wide attack pushed the scoreboard 10-9 in favour of opponents.
The Warriors took advantage and lit up the scoreboard.
A blocked Janssen attack brought on the second technical time out of the set with the Warriors leading 16-11. Waterloo crept away off a few Marauder service errors and wild passes and ended the set ahead 25-17.
The lead bounced back in fourth to begin the third set. An ace from Bojana Josipovic (Kitchener, Ont.) helped the Marauder jump to an early 8-5 lead.
Janssen tipped one over the net for the Marauders first point after the break to guide her team in closing their small deficit. Bench brought things within one point with another kill, but the Warriors dumped a tip a hand's length out of Janssen's reach to maintain their lead at 11-9.
Minutes later, the Marauders began their comeback when Bench deflected a shot back into Warriors' territory to tie the game at 12.
Although Waterloo pulled back in front momentarily Janssen was a little too hot to handle as a serve bounced off Josipovic to tie things at 17. Puhach, who collected 15 points during the game, pushed her team back out in front with one of those points at 19-18.
The second set concluded at 25-22 when Josipovic's serve got tangled in the net.
The Marauders were on fire heading into the fourth set. Leading 8-3 at the first technical timeout, the Marauder women came out from the break and took off. Puhach hit another of her three aces and Bench found a hole in a Warrior block to ring in the second technical timeout at 16-4.
Bench brought the Marauders to the match point with a tip and rookie Shannon McRobert (Whitby, Ont.) hammered down her final kill of the night for the 25-9 Marauder victory.
Janssen led the game with 18 points, six aces and 11 kills. Bench dug up 18 Warrior attacks and Holt assisted with 34 of the team's 63 points. Puhach was the Marauder's Player of the Game collecting 15 points, 15 digs, three aces and 10 kills in the win.
For the Warriors, Kate Flanagan (Burlington, Ont.) had 11 points, seven kills, and 12 digs while teammate Josipovic contributed two aces and eight kills.
Source: Marauders Athletics
OUA SCOREBOARD
February 14, 2009
McMaster 3, Waterloo 1
York 3, Queen's 2
Toronto 3, Ottawa 0
