W-VOLLEYBALL ROUNDUP: Toronto, Ottawa, Queen's and York make up the Final Four

Ottawa Gee-Gees 3 Guelph Gryphons 1

Excitement filled the air at Montpetit Hall on Feb. 18, as the Gee-Gees women’s volleyball team battled the Guelph Gryphons in an OUA quarterfinals match. In front of a sold-out home crowd, the two teams put up quite a show, with the Gee-Gees eventually prevailing 3-1. Guelph had won four straight games to sneak into the playoffs as the seventh seed, while the Gee-Gees were seeded second. With the victory, the Gee-Gees have now qualified for the OUA Final Four, to be held at York University next weekend.

“We played in the playoffs last year, but it’s still a young group, with a brand new leadership. You just have to get through that first playoff game, and we did. I think the game being at home court was the biggest key,” said Gee-Gees head coach Lionel Woods. “Now, we’ll go to the show, the Final Four, and everybody’s even.”

Fuelled by the support of the raucous home crowd, the Gee-Gees got off to a strong start. Second-year LS/M Myriam English (Orleans, Ont.) earned the first point of the match with a powerful kill, while third-year setter Christina Grail (London, Ont.) had two aces early on, as the Gee-Gees took a 5-0 lead. The underdog Gryphons remained unfazed however, and scored the next six points. The set proved to be a back-and-forth battle, but in the end, Guelph ended the set on a 10-4 run and took the first set 26-24.

Once again, the Gee-Gees took a 5-0 lead to start the second set. The Gryphons took two timeouts early in the set, but were unable to stop the bleeding, as the Gee-Gees extended their lead to 16-4 by the technical timeout. Ottawa simply overpowered the Gryphons on their kill attempts, with Myriam English and second-year LS/RS Karina Krueger Schwanke (Blumenau, Brazil) leading the way on offence. The Gee-Gees dominated their opponents until the very end, winning 25-6.

A closer affair ensued in the third set, as the Gee-Gees and Gryphons traded blows to begin the frame. uOttawa did take a 16-11 lead by the technical timeout, but the upset-minded Gryphons battled back to take the next ten points. But Schwanke, the Gee-Gees’ top scoring option, stopped the bleeding with a skilful kill down the middle of the court and the momentum shifted once again, to the Gee-Gees’ side. Ottawa pulled out a 25-23 win to take the 2-1 lead.

And though the Gryphons fought hard to stave off elimination, the Gee-Gees won the fourth set 25-17 to win the match. Overall, the entire uOttawa starting lineup played well, in a true team effort for the Garnet and Grey.

“We were aggressive all the time. We missed a few serves, but we were swinging hard, digging at everything, and not letting anything touch the floors,” said English. “We’re just going to take it a game at a time. We’re very excited for the next weekend.”

The Gee-Gees will now play their first game at the OUA Final Four on Feb. 24, against the third-seeded Queen’s Gaels.

Source: Ottawa Gee-Gees Sports Information

Toronto Varsity Blues 3      McMaster Marauders 0

Second-year left side hitter Charlotte Sider tallied a game-high 13 kills in leading the Varsity Blues women’s volleyball team to a huge 3-0 (27-25, 25-21, 25-18) win over the McMaster Marauders in OUA quarter-final action on Saturday night (Feb. 18).

Toronto will join the York Lions, Queen’s Gaels and Ottawa Gee-Gees at the OUA Final Four next weekend (Feb. 24-25), hosted by the top-seeded Lions. Final schedule to be announced.

A native of Ottawa, Sider added 14 digs and one serving ace on the night.  Rookie left Denise Wooding (North Vancouver, B.C.) had 10 kills and 12 digs, while Katrina Rossall added a game-high 17 digs in the win.

"It was a nice win mostly because we competed to win every rally and were really playing in each moment," said Varsity Blues head coach Kristine Drakich. "The team shared information throughout the match and did all the little things we needed to do to be successful."

Kailee Stock led the Marauders with 12 kills and 14 digs in the loss.  McMaster will have a couple of weeks off before hosting the CIS women’s volleyball championships, March 2-4, in Hamilton, Ont.

Source: Toronto Varsity Blues Sports Information

York Lions 3 RMC Paladins 0

The York University Lions women's volleyball team advanced to the OUA Final Four Championships next weekend with a dominant 3-0 victory over the Royal Military College (RMC) Paladins in their OUA quarter-final match on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 18) at the Tait McKenzie Centre.

As the top seeds in the OUA playoffs, the Lions, who ended the regular season with a 16-2 record, will host the four-team tournament next weekend at the Tait McKenzie Centre.

The Lions played some shaky points in the match but held strong on the big points and cruised in straight sets, winning 25-12, 25-21, 25-16.

Middle blocker Michelle Pierce (Windsor, Ont.), making her debut for the Lions after sitting out the regular season following a transfer from the University of Windsor, finished with a game-high 12 points on nine kills, two blocks and one service ace.

Second-year outside hitters Melissa Humana-Paredes (Toronto) and Brandie Wilkerson (Brampton, Ont.) continued their stellar seasons with strong performances in the match. Humana-Paredes tallied 10 points on eight kills and two service aces and added 15 digs, while Wilkerson chipped in with nine points on eight kills and one block.

Starting setter Tisha Rouse (Brampton, Ont.) recorded 33 assists in the match to go along with four points, three of which were scored on well-timed attacks at the net that continually caught the Paladins off guard.

Libero Jennifer Black (London, Ont.) had a game-high 23 digs and veteran outside hitter Thinesa Sriskandarajah (Scarborough, Ont.) recorded 13 digs and six points, all scored on kills.

RMC's leading scorer was outside hitter Melissa McCoy (Kingston, Ont.), who ended the match with eight points, all on kills, and added six digs. Libero Kelsey Chang (Vancouver) had a team-high 13 digs while diving all over the floor to save balls that looked to be dropping in.

The Paladins won the first two points of the match on a pair of attack errors by the Lions, but the home team quickly erased that lead with eight straight points thanks in part to tremendous serving by Humana-Paredes and a pair of kills by Sheraine Henry (Oakville, Ont.).

The Paladins finally stopped the momentum and won four points in a row to narrow the gap, but they weren't able to get any closer than three throughout the rest of the set and the Lions took the early 1-0 lead.

It was the Lions who jumped out to the early lead in the second, winning the first three points and seven of the first nine overall to lead 7-2. But the Paladins began chipping away at the deficit and tied the match on multiple occasions, although they were never able to take a lead. The Lions finally pulled away from 19-19 and won six of the last eight points to take the two-set advantage.

After staying close at the start of the third set the Lions pulled away and were never really challenged. They led 16-9 at the technical timeout and the Paladins could not get any closer as the Lions ultimately ended RMC's season with the victory.

Queen’s Gaels 3      Brock Badgers 0

KINGSTON, Ont. (February 18, 2012) – The number three seed Queen's Gaels (1-0) continued their strong play into the post-season as they easily got past the six seeded Brock Badgers in straight sets in OUA playoff action on Saturday afternoon. Set scores were 25-14, 25-14 and 25-15 to make it a 3-0 victory for Queen's.

On the day, the Gaels power attack combined with Brock errors made the difference. Queen's was led by Natalie Gray of Oshawa, Ont. who had a game high 15 kills to go along with five digs and three serving aces. Becky Billings of Ottawa chipped in with 10 kills of her own while Anna Pedjase of Waterloo, Ont. had 30 assists. Brock was led by Rachel Roorda of St. George, Ont. who had a team high nine kills.

As a team, the Badgers committed 12 service errors and 13 attacking errors on 64 total attacks compared to the Gaels eight and 12 on 80. Queen's serving pushed them over the top as they had 12 service aces of their own without giving up a single one to the Badgers on the day.

The outside combo of Gray and Billings were too powerful for the Badgers to contain as the two were able to get clear looks and finish their attacks strong all afternoon.

“We did a good job to keep the pressure on them early and then kept it going the whole game without letting up.” said veteran outside hitter Billings on the match. “We just kept building on what we started each set and got the win.”

“Everyone stayed positive and supportive throughout and that really helped for us to stay focused.”

Queen's will now move on to the OUA final four next weekend which will be hosted by the No. 9 York Lions.

Source: Queen's Gaels Sports Information