W-VOLLEYBALL ROUNDUP: Brock knocks off No. 8 York

Toronto Varsity Blues @ Windsor Lancers

The Varsity Blues women’s volleyball team started 2012 with a bang after a 3-0 (25-13, 25-17, 25-19) win over the Windsor Lancers at St. Denis Centre.

Second-year right side hitter Charlotte Sider of Ottawa dominated with a game-high 17 kills. Veteran Shannon Rossall (Calgary) and Georgetown, Ont., native Sarah Chapin each picked up six kills, while Rebecca Crosier tallied 10 digs and setter Malena Rapaport had 36 assists in the victory.

“It’s always good to win on the road,” said Varsity Blues head coach Kristina Drakich. “The team did a great job getting comfortable in the gym and were very focused. Rebecca led a great defensive effort and Charlotte converted the digs into points.”

The win lifts Toronto to 7-3 and leaves them tied for second place with the Ottawa Gee-Gees.

Toronto came out strong in the first game, building 8-1 and 12-2 leads.  Windsor battled back to bring it within four (16-12), only to see the Blues end the game on a 9-1 run. 

U of T found themselves down 9-7 in the second set but strong play from Sider and Rapaport allowed the visiting squad to gain a 22-15 advantage and eventually take the set.  Toronto carried that momentum over to the third and held a comfortable gap to secure the win.

LONDON, Ont. – The Western Mustangs women’s volleyball (6-4) team swept the Ryerson Rams (3-7) 3-0 for their first win of 2012.

Aces, kills and strong defense from Danielle Marshall and Rebecca Oxland gave the Mustangs a 12-3 lead in the first.  The final set score was 25-14 in favour of the Mustangs.

Western continued to display remarkable offense in the second set with 15 kills and 30 total attacks. The Mustangs easily won the set with another score of 25-14.

The third set saw the Rams outscore the Mustangs in total attacks 35-20, but the Mustangs once again came out victorious with a 25-13 win.

Serena Smith (8 kills, 7 digs) and Stephanie Kreuter (5 kills, 8 digs) led the Mustangs in the win.

Emily Nicholischen had eight kills and 24 total attacks for Ryerson.

ST. CATHARINES, Ont. - The Brock University women's volleyball team (6-4 OUA) came from behind to defeat the McMaster Marauders in five sets 3-2 (25-21, 21-25, 20-25, 25-20, 15-7) Friday night at the Bob Davis Gymnasium.

KINGSTON, Ont. (January 7, 2012)- Shannon Walsh of Kingston, Ont., finished with a game high 44 assists as Walsh was given the opportunity to start as the Gaels setter. The match was back and forth, going five sets before the Gaels (7-3) sealed the win over Guelph (4-4) in set five 15-10 ( (25-22, 16-25, 25-22, 23-25, 15-10).

Walsh had no shortage of offensive outlets to feed the ball to, with Becky Billings of Ottawa, Natalie Gray of Oshawa, Ont., Katie Neville of Cambridge Ont., and Katie Hagarty of Aurora, Ont. registering double digit numbers in kills. This well rounded attack overwhelmed the Gryphon defense, which was led up at the net by Erinn Bickle of Whitby, Ont., who individually accounted for a game high 10 blocks in the loss. Bickle contributed 14 kills to lead all Gryphons on the day.

The Gaels final point to seal the match came off of an outside kill from Gray who went cross court to seal the win for Queen's.

This first win of the new year maintains the Gaels spot near the top of the OUA standings as they now sit tied with the Toronto Varsity Blues and Ottawa Gee Gees for second place at 7-3.

The Waterloo women's volleyball team continued their struggles opening up 2012 with a straight set loss to the RMC Paladins.  Since opening up the season with three straight victories, the Warriors have dropped their next six and sit outside the playoff picture with a 3-6 record.

RMC opened up the first set with an easy 25-18 win before completing the sweep with scores of 25-21 in the final two sets.

The Paladins were led by Danielle Vortisch (Whitby, Ont.) who had nine kills and 11 digs while outside Norah Collins (Cedar Valley, Ont.) and middle Melissa McCoy (Kingston, Ont.) each added 8 kills in the win.

Rookie outside hitter Natalia Kanda (Toronto) was a bright spot in the Warriors loss with 10 kills and five digs while Laura Klein (Kitchener) added eight kills of her own.

WINDSOR, Ont.- Georgetown, Ont. product Chelsea Jensen tallied a season-high 16 kills, and the Ryerson Rams women's volleyball team earned their second victory in their last three conference matches, defeating the Windsor Lancers 3-0 (25-18, 25-22, 25-16) on Saturday afternoon.

The Varsity Blues women’s volleyball team notched their eighth win of the season with a 3-1 (25-23, 25-23, 20-25, 25-16) victory over the Western Mustangs on Saturday, January 7 in London, Ont.

“Today we demonstrated outstanding focus and composure on the court one play at a time,” said Varsity Blues head coach Kristine Drakich. “Each player is committed to our goals and as a result we are competing and getting better every day. Our success this weekend was a results of the collective hard work of the team.”

Second-year rightside hitter and Ottawa native Charlotte Sider once again led the Blues, tallying a game-high 16 kills and adding 10 digs on the night.  Rookie Denise Wooding of North Vancouver, B.C., had 11 kills and 11 digs, while setter Malena Rapaport (Vancouver) added 35 assists and 10 digs in the win.

The first and second sets were see-saw battles, both ending in 25-23 favours for Toronto. The third set started the same way, with U of T holding an 8-7 lead early on; however Western rallied and consistently held a four-point lead before closing with a 25-20 advantage.  The Blues went onto regain their composure and handily take the fourth to secure the win.

The victory leaves the Blues in second place with an 8-3 record, while the Mustangs drop to 6-4 and are in a three-way tie for fifth in the OUA.  

Toronto returns to the court next Sunday, January 15 as they head to Ryerson to take on the Rams. Opening serve is scheduled for 2 p.m.

KINGSTON, Ont. (January 8, 2012) - The Gaels (8-3) completed a weekend sweep with a win over the visiting Waterloo Warriors (3-7) in four sets on Sunday afternoon in Kingston. Set scores were 25-11, 25-22, 18-25, 25-22 in a game where Natalie Gray of Oshawa, Ont. had a game high 11 kills and 18 digs.

The Gaels Kelsey Bishop of North Vancouver, B.C. had 11 kills for the Gaels in the win and Anna Pedjase of Waterloo, Ont. led all Gaels in assists with 20.

For Waterloo, Oksana Kozak of Mississauga, Ont. led all Warriors in kills with 10 to go along with five digs and one block. Kayla Ng of London, Ont. led all players with 25 assists in a losing effort.

The first set was handily won by the Gaels 25-11 but Waterloo managed to make a game of it keeping set three close with 22 points and winning the third set 25-18. The Gaels attack was too strong on the day as they took another close set 25-22 for the 3-1 victory. Five Gaels finished with five or more kills on the day, in their second straight win in as many days having won in five sets on Saturday against Guelph.

With the win the Gaels now improve to 8-3 on the season and sit tied with Toronto for second place in the OUA. The Gaels return to action next weekend when they take on the McMaster Marauders on Saturday January 14 in Hamilton, then travel to Toronto Sunday to play the OUA first place York Lions.

The University of Guelph women's volleyball team rebounded from a tough loss a day earlier to earn a weekend road split with a 3-0 victory over the RMC Paladins on Sunday.

The first set was an even battle with the two teams going point for point until 17-17. The Gryphons were the stronger team down the stretch though and took the first set 25-21. Set 2 featured some long rallies with both teams scrambling well on defense to keep the ball in play with neither team building a sizable lead. Both teams had game point opportunities late but it wasn't until a Taylor Crown ace that the set was decided at 31-29 for Guelph. RMC jumped out to an early lead in the third set but the Gryphons rallied to take control and combined with some RMC unforced errors were able to win the set and the match at 25-12.

Coach Paul Funk said, "Our game certainly wasn't pretty today but RMC forces the opposition to have to scramble to defend and I thought we did a good job of hanging in there in some of the long rallies. We really needed a win today and Stephanie Vickers did a great job in taking Brooke Lloyd's spot while Erinn Bickle was solid for us all weekend."

The Gryphons offence was led by Stephanie Vickers with 14 points (10 kills, 3 aces, 1 block) followed by Erinn Bickle with 13 (9 kills, 1 ace, 3 blocks).

Guelph returns home for a couple of tough matches next weekend against Western (Friday, 6pm) and Ottawa (Saturday, 6pm).

ST. CATHARINES, Ont. - The Brock University women's volleyball team (7-4 OUA) knocked off the No. 8 ranked York University Lions (9-1 OUA) by the score of 3-1 (25-14, 16-25, 25-20, 25-23) Sunday afternoon at the Bob Davis Gymnasium.

January 6, 2012
Toronto, 3 @ Windsor, 0
Ryerson, 0 @ Western, 3
McMaster, 2 @ Brock, 3