W-VOLLEYBALL ROUNDUP: Warriors end losing streak with two wins
Windsor Lancers @ Waterloo Warriors
The women's volleyball team ended a seven game losing streak on Friday night in a straight set victory over the Windsor Lancers at the Physical Activities Complex in Waterloo.
The black and gold got a boost from a pair of rookies as Natasha Spaling (Drayton) and Oksana Kozak (Mississauga)who led the charge with eight and seven kills respectively while teaming up for a combined 16 digs.
The Warriors dazzled the boisterous hometown crowd as part of Warrior night to pick up their fourth win of the season. Waterloo is now 4-7 on the season while Windsor fell to 2-10.
The opening set saw the Warriors take control early and set the tone for the match as Kozak led the charge with thunderous kills. Waterloo would lead the set from start to finish en route to a 25-18 win.
The second set saw the Lancers battle back as third year outside hitter Kaila Seguin (Windsor, Ont.) would respond with several kills of her own but the Waterloo defense would answer the call. Libero Katie Spack (Ottawa) was stellar on defense with 14 digs in the match and Waterloo would take the second set 25-20.
Waterloo would close out the match in the third and final set thanks to some skillful serving by Kozak. With the score tied 13-13 Kozak would step up and earn five straight points on her serve to give Waterloo an 18-13. Windsor would fight back to within three but the black and gold would shut down any comeback attempt and cruise to a 25-19 set win.
Warriors setter Mikaela Klie (Cambridge) would finish the match with 17 assists while Kayla Ng (London) took the role of outside hitter in the match finishing with four kills, seven digs and seven assists.
Windsor was given a balanced attack in the loss with Seguin as the top point getter at seven. Setter Jessica Shepley chipped in with 11 assists in the loss.
Source: Warriors Athletics
GUELPH, Ont. – In a five-set thriller, the Western Mustangs (7-5) women’s volleyball team came out with a win 3-2 over the Guelph Gryphons (5-5) Friday night.
Set scores were 16-25, 27-25, 25-22, 25-27, and 15-11.
The Mustangs rebound from a 3-1 loss last weekend to the Toronto Varsity Blues.
Stephanie Kreuter (19 kills, 22 digs) led the Western offense, while Taylor Crown (15 kills, 2 blocks) led the Guelph offense.
Source: Mustangs Athletics
Ottawa Gee-Gees @ York Lions
The York University Lions women's volleyball team became the first team in the OUA with 10 wins with a 3-1 victory over the visiting Ottawa Gee-Gees at the Tait McKenzie Centre on Friday night (Jan. 13).
With the win, the Lions increased their lead in the OUA standings to four points and clinched a playoff spot. The loss for the Gee-Gees dropped them to 7-4 on the year and are tied with Brock and Western for fourth place in the standings with 14 points.
Second-year outside hitters Brandie Wilkerson (Brampton, Ont.) and Melissa Humana-Paredes (Toronto) continued their tremendous seasons with 14 points apiece to lead all Lions. Wilkerson had 13 kills and added seven digs, while Humana-Paredes recorded 14 digs and two service aces.
Thinesa Sriskandarajah (Scarborough, Ont.) led all Lions with 23 digs, while setter Tisha Rouse (Brampton, Ont.) had a game-high 32 assists.
The leading point-getter on the night was Ottawa's Karina Krueger-Schwanke with 17 points, while libero Claudia Seguin had a game-high 29 digs.
After the Lions won the first point, the Gee-Gees raced out to an early lead but the Lions came back to tie it 9-9. The Gee-Gees again turned up the head and took a five-point advantage, but the Lions closed it again and Ottawa led by just one – 16-15 – at the first technical timeout. They stretched their lead once again to 20-15 before the Lions came all the way back to win the first set 25-22.
Despite winning the first set the Lions looked nervous in the second and the Gee-Gees took advantage. The set was never close as they earned a 25-9 win to even the match.
The Lions quickly put the ugly second set behind them and roared out to an early lead in the third, at one time as big as eight points at 13-5. The Gee-Gees continually tried to tie the set and got as close as one point back, but the Lions pulled away again and took the set 25-21.
Source: Lions Athletics
Hamilton, Ont. - Kailee Stock (Newmarket, Ont.) was named the Big Mac Player of the Game for her performance in McMaster's take down of the visiting Royal Military College's Paladins. Set scores in the three-set win were 25-18, 25-16, 25-20 in favour of the Marauders.
In the first, the Marauders took an early 4-0 lead forcing RMC to call a timeout. McMaster continued to build a large lead in the first set and the score would read 11-4 after Lauren Mastroluisi (Ancaster, Ont.) made good use of a block for a point. A step around kill from Shannon McRobert (Whitby, Ont.) would later send both teams to the bench for the technical timeout where McMaster lead by 10 points at 16-6.
After the timeout, the Paladins strung together some points of their own in an attempt to mount a comeback and they would get within five before McMaster put another point on the board. Stock would serve a few for McMaster to regain their 10 point lead and the Marauders would close out the first set 25-18.
Both teams would battle it out early in the second set but McMaster would build up a slight lead of three points and maintain that throughout the beginning of the set. Some tough serves from rookie Mira Krunic (Oakville, Ont.) would allow the Marauders to pull away with an 11 point lead at 15-4.
After the technical timeout. despite RMC's best efforts to come back, big kills from McRobert in the middle and Mastroluisi at left side would seal the deal in the second set as the Marauders cruised to victory 25-16. Stock would already have nine points in her favour going into the third.
The Paladins would take an early three point lead at 7-4 at the beginning of the third set but the Marauders would tie it back up at seven later on. RMC would gain back a lead of two points up until the technical timeout at 16-14 with a hit from outside hitter Danielle Vortisch (Whitby, Ont.) of the Paladins.
McMaster would finally tie it back up at 17 with a kill from Stock and following that, a block from setter Amanda Weldon (Hamilton, Ont.). The Marauders would keep the lead until the end of hte match, ending the final set with a kill from rookie Mastroluisi.
Stock would record a game-high 14 points, which included 11 kills, two aces and a block. Rookie Mastroluisi added another eight kills for the Marauders and veteran McRobert earned six kills, and ace and two blocks for nine points.
For the Paladins, Big Mac Player of the Game for RMC, Melissa McCoy (Kingston, Ont.), recorded 12 kills. Mallory Litjens (Ottawa, Ont.) added another eight kills for the Paladins and Brianne Baum (Penetanguishe, Ont.) recorded 26 assists.
Western Mustangs @ Waterloo Warriors
The Waterloo women's volleyball team won their second straight game in convincing fashion over the Western Mustangs on Saturday night at the PAC gym. After splitting the first two sets (25-21, 25-27) the Warriors walked away with the final two sets 25-19, 25-22 for their fifth win of the season.
Waterloo (5-7) now sits in a tie for eighth with Guelph and McMaster at 10 points a piece while the Mustangs sit alone in sixth place with 14 points (7-6).
The Warriors were led by Laura Klein (Kitchener) who had 15 kills and 4 blocks for 19 points. Klein also chipped in defensively with 8 digs in the match.
Rookie outside Oksana Kozak (Mississauga) had yet another strong match showing off her power game and agility in the back court raking up nine kills and a staggering 26 digs while notching three service aces. Veteran libero Katie Spack (Ottawa) was also all over the court with 24 digs in the win.
Natasha Spaling (Drayton) and Danielle Kamps (Vineland Station) rounded out the Waterloo attack with nine and seven kills respectively while setter Kayla Ng (London) was on her game with 37 assists.
For the Mustangs Stephanie Kreuter (Rostock, Ont.) led the charge with 14 kills and 10 digs while Kelly Frittenberg (Caledon, Ont.) had 10 kills. Third year setter Rebecca Oxland (Vancouver, B.C.) had 35 assists in the loss.
The Warriors look for their third straight win as they face the McMaster Marauders next Friday at 6pm in Hamilton.
Source: Warriors Athletics
Ottawa Gee-Gees @ Guelph Gryphons
After a disappointing 3-1 loss to the nationally tenth-ranked York Lions on January 13, the Gee-Gees women’s volleyball team won a crucial match against the Guelph Gryphons the very next day. Needing a win to keep pace with the top three teams in the OUA, the motivated Gee-Gees squad swept away the Gryphons in straight sets, at the University of Guelph. The Gee-Gees are tied for second place in the OUA with an 8-4 record and 16 points to their credit.
“I couldn't be more pleased with my team's maturity after a tough loss last night. Tonight, we played a good Guelph team but we just didn't let up like we did at times last night," said Gee-Gees head coach Lionel Woods.
Guelph fought back hard in the second set, and they held a 12-8 lead midway through the frame. After an extremely closely-contested set, third-year LS/RS Laura Carmanico (Stittsville, Ont.) had the two final kills of the frame, which the Gee-Gees took 26-24. After the heartbreaking second set, the Gryphons had nothing left in the tank for the final set of play, as the Gee-Gees cruised to a 25-13 win. Ottawa finished the match on a 13-2 run, and Myriam English had five aces in the final set alone.
"Serving was huge again for us tonight with 17 aces and only five missed. We were balanced in our attack and had some hunger in our play from start to finish—that is the team we are trying to be as we move towards the playoffs," said Woods.
The Gee-Gees will have two hugely important matches at home next week, against the Toronto Varsity Blues and the Brock Badgers, January 21 to 22. Toronto is currently tied with uOttawa in second place, while the Badgers are right behind in fifth place.
Source: Gee-Gees Athletics
Hamilton, Ont. - The McMaster women's volleyball team capped off their winning weekend with a big win over the Queen's Gaels on Saturday night of Marauder Weekend. Taking down the third place Gaels in four, set scores for the match were 25-14, 12-25, 25-14, 25-19.
The first set saw the Marauders up by five at 9-4, but just a few points later the Gaels would get within three with a tool from outside hitter Becky Billings (Ottawa, Ont.). A few mistakes from the Gaels saw them fall behind once again and McMaster took the lead of six points at 13-7.
The technical timeout would have the Marauders ahead by five and right after, a block from Kailee Stock (Newmarket, Ont.) would follow for a score of 17-11. A big kill later on from McMaster middle Camilla Thorne-Tjomsland (Winnipeg, Man.) and blocks from a number of players would seal the deal with a 25-14 first set win.
In the second, Queen's came out on a mission to win it, going up 5-1 early on, utilizing their middles from a number of angles. A kill from Shannon McRobert (Whitby, Ont.) and a new nice digs in the back court would get McMaster within three at 9-6, but by the timeout rolled around, the Gaels had taken a significant 16-8 lead. Queen's would go on to win the second set 25-12 and even up the match at one set win per team.
Both teams battled it out early in the third set and it would be all tied up at six with both teams using their outside hitters for points. McMaster would take the first true lead of the match and would force the Gaels to call a timeout early on thanks to a block from rookie Mira Krunic (Oakville, Ont.). The score would read 10-7 with a kill from McRobert in the middle and at the technical timeout the Marauders would lead 16-11, maintaining the point differential and building on it.
Thorne-Tjomsland would connect for a huge block to make it 17-11 for McMaster and Queen's would be forced to call a timeout just after at 20-12 after a big hit by rookie Lauren Mastroluisi (Ancaster, Ont.) on a Queen's overpass. The Marauders would go on to win the all important third set of the match by a score of 25-14 thanks to a block from setter Amanda Weldon (Hamilton, Ont.).
In the fourth, Queen's would take the early 5-3 lead with a kill from Katie Hagarty (Aurora, Ont.) but the Marauders would follow that up with a kill from Stock on the left side and then a shank on a serve from Weldon. Having trboule passing Weldon's serves, the Gaels found themselves down by three at 8-5. McRobert would string together a few blocks in the middle to put the Marauders up by four at 14-10 and would maintain that to the technical timeout at 16-12.
The Marauders would win the fourth set and win the match, capitalizing on Queen's mistakes. The final score in the fourth was 25-19.
McMaster's Big Mac Player of the Game was Amanda Weldon for her serving, setting and play at the net. The setter tallied 27 assists for the Marauders. Stock recorded 11 kills and a block for a total of 12 points in the match and McRobert also earned 12 points with six kills, five blocks and an ace. Rookie Mastroluisi added seven more kills in McMaster's win.
For Queen's, the Big Mac Player of the Game for the Gaels was outside hitter Natalie Gray. The veteran recorded 11 kills and had an ace to go with it for 12 points. Middle Hagarty had a game high 13 points with eight kills and four aces. Setter Anna Pedjase (Waterloo, Ont.) recored 35 assists in four sets for the Gaels.
The Marauders are at home against next weekend with games against Waterloo on Friday and Guelph on Saturday, both at 6:00 p.m. at Burridge Gymnasium.
Brock Badgers @ Lakehead Thunderwolves
THUNDER BAY, Ont. - The Brock University women's volleyball team (8-4 OUA) remained unbeaten in 2012 as they defeated the Lakehead Thunderwolves by the score of 3-1 (21-25, 27-25, 25-21, 25-17) Saturday night on the road.
Leading the Badgers offense was senior Rachel Roorda (St. George, Ont.) who continued her dominance finishing with 13 kills, three block solos and an impressive .600 hitting percentage. She also registered her 200th career block as a Badger.
Sophomore Lucy McLay (Stratford, Ont.) recorded 12 kills and six digs while freshman Lauren Stirling (Whitby, Ont.) contributed nine kills and five digs. Senior setter Ally Fast (St. Catharines, Ont.) added her ninth double-double of the season registering 36 assists and 13 digs in the victory.
For the Thunderwolves Jorie Daymond added 15 kills and 14 digs for the double-double. Jenna Gunter and Michelle Cournoyer rounded out their offense finishing with nine and seven kills respectively.
The Badgers next action is January 21st and 22nd when they take on the RMC Paladins and Ottawa Gee-Gees on the road.
Source: Badgers Athletics
The York University Lions women's volleyball team found itself down early after a sluggish first set of play on Sunday (Jan. 15) but went on to win the final three sets in convincing fashion and defeat the Queen's Gaels by a score of 3-1 in an afternoon matchup at Tait McKenzie Centre.
Brandie Wilkerson (Brampton, Ont.) led all scorers with 17 points, which included a game-high 14 kills. Wilkerson leads the OUA in scoring this season with 4.55 points per game.
Lions sophomores Beata Dye (North York, Ont.) and Melissa Humana-Paredes (Toronto) were the top defenders on the day with two blocks and 23 digs, respectively, both of which were game highs.
Natalie Gray (Oshawa, Ont.) was the Gaels' top scorer with 10 points. She fifth in league scoring this season with 3.7 points per game.
With the win, the Lions improve to 11-1 on the season and remain first in the OUA with 22 points, four points ahead of the second-place Toronto Varsity Blues (9-3).
Both teams traded points through the opening minutes of the frame, but the Gaels would eventually pull ahead thanks to a 7-2 run, which gave them a 16-9 lead heading into the technical timeout.
The Lions regrouped after the technical, winning 10 of the next 11 points to take a 19-17 lead, but the Gaels showed great poise down the stretch, scoring seven unanswered points en route to the 25-20 set win.
The second set played out much differently than the first. After the Lions fell behind 2-0 early, they would rally for 10 unanswered points on Humana-Paredes's serve to take a commanding 10-2 lead.
The Gaels pulled to within five midway through the set, but that was as close as they would get as the Lions put together a 7-2 run from there and capped a dominant 25-16 set win with a block from Stephanie Green (Ottawa).
The Lions seemed to get a surge of energy from Dye, who came in off the bench midway through the set and made her presence felt almost immediately, picking up both a block and a kill that helped extend the Lions' late run.
The Lions would continue to dominate in the third, looking like a much different team than the one that started the game. They opened the set on a 13-2 run thanks to extended service games from Humana-Paredes and Green and cruised to a lopsided 25-11 set win.
The Lions continued to roll in the fourth and took a commanding 16-7 lead into the technical timeout. Wilkerson had four points on the run, including two thunderous kills, while Humana-Paredes added a pair of points on two slick chip shots.
The Gaels made things interesting late in the set, pulling to within six at 24-18, but they were unable to delay the inevitable as veteran middle hitter Claire Leewing (Toronto) ended the game on the following play with a Humana-Paredes-esque chip shot.
Source: Lions Athletics
Toronto Varsity Blues @ Ryerson Rams
The Varsity Blues women’s volleyball team shut out the Ryerson Rams 3-0 (25-19, 25-12, 25-19) on Sunday afternoon in Toronto.
Jennifer Neilson (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) led the Blues with eight kills, while rookie Denise Wooding had seven kills and four digs on the day. Malena Rapaport controlled the ball well with 40 assists and 10 digs in the win.
The win lifts Toronto to a 9-3 record and puts them in second place, behind the York Lions (11-1) in the OUA standings.
"We had good contributions from everyone," said Varsity Blues head coach Kristine Drakich. "We did a good job of taking care of our side of the net today."
The squads traded points to begin the match, and after the Rams went up by a couple, Toronto responded with six straight points, including back-to-back kills by Rapaport, to take a 12-8 advantage.
The Blues continued to dominate, scoring two more points before Ryerson finally put a stop to the run. However, Toronto would still take a 16-10 lead into the technical timeout.
Rebecca Crosier and Shannon Rossall tallied three kills a-piece in the set, and the Blues would cruise to an opening set win.
Toronto took an early lead in the second on a couple more kills by Rapaport and an ace from Sarah Chapin. The teams then traded runs, the Blues tallying three straight before the Rams put away four in a row including a kill from Emily Nicholishen (Whitby, Ont.). However, Toronto still held a six-point advantage at the technical break.
After an error by the Rams, Rapaport put home an ace to spread the lead to eight. The visitors took a stranglehold on the match by winning seven of the next eight points to win the set, while Ryerson could muster just two kills in the second.
After the opening 10 points of the third set, the teams were notched at 5-5. The Rams went on a 5-1 streak and took their first lead of the match since early in the first set. However, the Blues would bounce back, and the teams were even at 12-12 going into the second half of the set.
Toronto re-took the lead at the technical, going up 16-14. The Blues upped the lead to 20-16 on a kill by Crosier but the Rams could not overcome the deficit, as Neilson ended the contest by finding the open court with her eighth kill of the match.
The Varsity Blues return to action next Saturday, January 21 as they travel to Ottawa to take on the Gee-Gees. Game time is set for 2 p.m.
Source: Varsity Blues Athletics
OUA SCHEDULE & RESULTS
January 13, 2012
Windsor, 0 @ Waterloo, 3
Western, 3 @ Guelph, 2
Ottawa, 1 @ York, 3
RMC, 0 @ McMaster, 3
January 14, 2012
Western, 1 @ Waterloo, 3
Ottawa, 3 @ Guelph, 0
Queen’s, 1 @ McMaster, 3
Brock, 3 @ Lakehead, 1
January 15, 2012
Queen’s, 1 @ York, 3
Toronto, 3 @ Ryerson, 0
January 20, 2012
6:00 pm – Waterloo @ McMaster
6:00 pm – Windsor @ Western
January 21, 2012
12:00 pm – Waterloo @ Ryerson
1:00 pm – Brock @ RMC
2:00 pm – Queen’s @ Lakehead
2:00 pm – Toronto @ Ottawa
6:00 pm – Guelph @ McMaster
