W-VOLLEYBALL ROUNDUP: Lions snap Gaels six game winning streak
January 12, 2015

W-VOLLEYBALL ROUNDUP: Lions snap Gaels six game winning streak

Friday, January 9

Waterloo 0 @ Toronto 3 (25-14, 25-8, 25-9)

The No. 4 University of Toronto Varsity Blues women's volleyball team improve to 10-0 after a 3-0 (25-14, 25-8, 25-9) victory over the Waterloo Warriors on Friday night (Jan. 9) at Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport.

The match marked the Varsity Blues volleyball grand opening game at the new Goldring Centre.

 The new Ron Kimel Field House in the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport is arguably the best court facility in the CIS. The 2,000-seat international standard field house for basketball and volleyball also features a high performance strength and conditioning centre overlooking Varsity Stadium and a state-of-the-art sport medicine clinic. 

Fifth-year veteran Jennifer Neilson led the Blues with eight kills, one block and four digs, while third-year left side hitter Caleigh Cruickshank notched seven kills, two blocks and seven digs. Bojana Radan and Charlotte Sider each had five kills, with Denise Wooding adding a game-high 15 digs on the night.

Madelyn Mandryk tallied 21 assists, two aces and four digs, with Erin Jacobs adding eight assists in the victory.

Toronto got out to an early 4-1 advantage in the first set but the Warriors rallied and kept the game close. Two kills from Sarah Chapin gave the Blues a 16-10 lead at the technical time out. U of T continued to roll with a 9-4 streak and a couple of final kills from Sider and Radan took it 25-14.   

The second set saw the Blues dominate from start to finish, leading 16-5 at the break. A Tessa Davis kill ended the frame 25-8 in favour of the home team.

Some long rallies started the third but a few points from Cruickshank and Chapin gave U of T a comfortable cushion as they led 16-5 at the timeout. Two late kills from Neilson and one from Radan sealed Toronto's eighth shut out victory with a 25-9 third set win.

Waterloo was led by Claire MacKenzie who had six kills and eight digs in the loss.

The Varsity Blues return to action tomorrow night as they host the Guelph Gryphons at Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport. Game time is set for 8 p.m.

The University of Toronto is the proud host of the 2015 CIS Women's Volleyball Championship, presented by Canuck Stuff, February 26 - March 1, at Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport. Tickets are on sale now at varsityblues.ca/cisvolleyball.

Source: Toronto Varsity Blues

Saturday, Januay 10

Nipissing 1 @ Queens 3 (25-14, 25-15, 23-25 and 25-14)

KINGSTON, Ont. (January 10, 2015) – This Saturday the Gaels (9-3) kick-started the second half of their 2014-15 season by winning their sixth consecutive game against the Nipissing Lakers (3-8) taking the match in four sets 3-1 with set scores 25-14, 25-15, 23-25 and 25-14. 
 
The Gaels took an early lead in the first set as the Lakers made five consecutive attacking errors.  As a whole Queen's led a strong offensive attack against Nipissing while Shannon Neville (Camebridge, Ont.) and Becky Wilson (Pickering, Ont.) stopped the Lakers attack as each player made eight digs.  The Gaels pulled away at the 14-point mark and Brett Hagarty (Aurora, Ont.) finished the set for Queen's with a kill making it 25-14.
 
Brett opened the second set with a kill from the left side of the court.  The play went back-and-forth between the two teams until the seven-point mark where the Gaels managed to take the lead.  Shannon Hopkins (North Vancouver, B.C.), who subbed in halfway through the set and Brett Hagarty led the left side attack for Queens.  The Gaels finished the set on a four-point streak as Hopkins sealed the deal with a deep serve that was too much for the Lakers to handle, Queens took it 25-15.
 
Nippising opened the scoring in the third set with a kill from Lakers player Brittany Ardon.  The Gaels took an early lead but the Lakers managed to close down the three-point gap to tie it up and take the lead at the 15-point mark.  Once again, scoring went back-and-forth between the two teams but four consecutive points for Nipissing brought them to game point with a three point advantage.  Despite the Gaels efforts to make a comeback, the Lakers took the set 25-23.
 
Even though it was the Lakers opening the scoring in the final set, Queen's quickly grabbed the lead and maintained a three-point advantage.  The Gaels pulled away from the Lakers after strong attacking efforts by Hopkins and Niki Slikboer (Seagrave, Ont.).  Queen's finished the set 25-14 with two back-to-back serving aces from Brett Hagarty.
 
The top scorer of todays match was Brett Hagarty with 16 kills, three serving aces and 19 digs.  Not too far behind was Hopkins with 10 kills, one serving ace and nine digs.
 
The Gaels are back in action tomorrow at 1pm against the York Lions in the ARC main gym.

Source: Queen's Gaels

Ryerson 3 @ Lakehead 0 (25-19, 25-14, 25-23)
The women's volleyball team were great for stretches of the match, but couldn't cobble them together on Saturday afternoon, losing 3-0 to the Ryerson Rams (25-19, 25-14, 25-23).
 
Both in the first and second sets Lakehead got down early, and trailed 16-12 at the technical time outs before giving up three straight points out of the time outs, leading to easy set win for the Rams.
 
The 'Wolves did show grit in the second set, down 7-0 to begin the set before going on a 6-0 run to narrow the Rams' lead to 10-8, but they lacked consistency point to point.
 
In the third set, Lakehead got their first lead of the game, 2-0 to begin the set and would hold it until Ryerson went on a 5-0 run to take a 18-15 lead. Both teams struggles in the third from the service line, but Ryerson would make fewer errors and close out the match, 25-23.
 
Breanne Hilhorst made 19 digs and an assist for Lakehead, keeping them alive on many rallies with her quick reflexes.
 
Jen Casey and Kailan Robinson had 9 kills each, although Casey's offensive performance was overshadowed by 12 hitting errors. She did make 8 digs on the defensive side of things. Vanessa Masters made 20 assists for the Lakehead offense.
 
Ryerson got 10 kills and 10 digs from Veronica Livingston.
 
Coach Chris Green:
 
"The match today once again shows us that we are befuddled as to how to perform on the court like we do in practice. I know this team has not yet brought their practice mentality to the floor. Until they do I am not sure we can expect a different result."

"As a staff we're perplexed as to our players philosophy on play. I see it and hear it, they know what they have to do, but to do it is where we are stalling. The obvious area is in the stats - too many errors. We can't expect anything when we execute 27 attack errors. That is the only stat line that matters."
 
"We will get ready to focus on Ottawa and see what the rebound is. Keep searching for that right combination."
 
The women's team plays Ottawa tomorrow at 2pm.

York 3 @ RMC 1
The York University Lions women's volleyball team defeated the RMC Paladins 3-1 on Saturday (Jan. 10) in Kingston, Ont.
 
The Lions won the first set 25-16, the second 25-21 lost the third 26-24 and won the fourth 25-15.
 
In the first set the Lions completed 14 kills and had only two errors compared to the Paladins six kills and three errors.
 
In the second set the Lions completed 14 kills and had two errors compared to the Paladins eight kills and one error.
 
In the third set the Lions completed 15 kills and had two errors compared to the Paladins impressive 18 kills and one error.
 
In the final set the Lions completed 11 kills and had two errors while the Paladins completed seven kills and had six errors.
 
Leaders of the game from the Lions included Michelle Pierce (Windsor, Ont.) with 14 kills, one ace and five blocks, Aleks Arsovic (Burlington, Ont.) with 11 kills and three aces and Veneta Mincheva (Gatineau, Que.) with 10 kills and eight aces.
 
Leaders from the Paladins included Danielle Vortisch with 14 kills and one ace, Nicole
Behnke with 14 kills, three aces and one block and Delanie Chang with eight kills and two aces.
 
The Lions are in fifth place in the OUA East standings with a record of 6-5 while the Paladins sit at the bottom with a record of 2-10.
 
The next game for the Lions is on Sunday (Jan. 11) against the Queen's Gaels in Kingston, Ont.

Source: York Lions

Guelph 0 @ Toronto 3 (25-21, 25-13, 25-16)

The University of Toronto Varsity Blues women's volleyball team notched their 11th win of the season and defeated the Guelph Gryphons 3-0 (25-21, 25-13, 25-16) on Saturday, January 10 at Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport.  

Fourth-year middle Bojana Radan led the Blues with nine kills and two blocks. Left side hitter Charlotte Sider notched six kills, two aces and two blocks, while Caleigh Cruickshank followed her teammate closely with eight kills, five digs and one ace.

Denise Wooding tallied a team-high 18 digs, with Madelyn Mandryk adding 31 assists and eight digs in the victory.

Cruickshank gave Toronto a 16-15 advantage at the first set technical time out and, thanks to four kills from Radan, U of T took the first set 25-21.

Both teams traded the lead early in the second until the Blues 4-0 run and a Sider ace gave U of T a 16-9 lead at the break. Guelph middle Nicole Collard ended a Blues seven-point streak with a strong block, but it wasn't enough as Toronto gained the 2-0 match lead, 25-13.

The Blues kept their momentum going and a Sider kill put Toronto up 16-12 at the timeout. Guelph's left side hitter Madison Dedeker attempted to rally the troops, but a final ace from Sider sealed the win 25-16.

The Varsity Blues return to the court on Friday, January 16 as they travel to take on the Western Mustangs in London, Ont. Game time is set for 6 p.m.

Source: Toronto Varsity Blues

McMaster 3 @ Western 2 (25-17, 12-25, 25-18, 28-30, 12-15)

LONDON, Ont. – Returning to the court for their first regular season match after the break, the Western Mustangs fell to the McMaster Marauders in a hard fought five set (25-17, 12-25, 25-18, 28-30, 12-15) matchup on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Hall.
 
With the loss, the Mustangs move to 3-8 on the season and sit in fifth place in the OUA West Division, while the Marauders maintain their hold on first place with an 8-3 record.
 
"It's no secret that that was our fourth or fifth straight match we've lost in a row," said Mustangs head coach Melissa Bartlett after Saturday's game. "But I think the big difference was that the feeling for that match was completely different. That was a really great team and we really pushed them. There were way more positives than negatives in that match, it's about going forward and I think we can expect to see a different team in the second half [of the season]."
 
Wasting no time, both teams pulled out powerful attacks and kills early on in the opening set. The Mustangs, searching for holes in the Marauder blocks while throwing up strong ones of their own, pulled ahead and had McMaster's score doubled at 8-4.
 
The Marauders, struggling to combat the purple and white's net play, were forced into their first timeout of the set at 14-9. Undeterred by the interruption, the Mustangs returned to the court and continued to hammer out rapid attacks that left McMaster floundering.
 
Although the Marauders were able to stall the Mustangs at 23 points momentarily, Western ultimately took the first set 25-17 on a McMaster error.
 
The second set opened up with an exchange of points that left the score tied at 5-5. The Marauders, exploiting the defensive holes that helped them defeat the Mustangs in their OUA regular opener in October, pushed the Mustangs into a five-point deficit at 8-13 as well as a timeout.
 
McMaster continued to control the set, with the Mustangs falling nine points behind at 11-20. The Marauders ended the set with a quick five points, being stalled only once by the Mustangs to bring the score to 12-25.
 
The Mauraders Maicee Sorenson opened up the third set with a kill and two consecutive aces to put McMaster at an early three-point advantage. The Mustangs retaliated with a series of tall blocks and kills of their own to tie the set at 4-4.
 
Tightening up their defensive play, the Mustangs took the lead and forced McMaster into a timeout at 10-6, and again at 15-7.
 
Returning to the court the Marauders clawed their way up to reduce their point deficit to two points at 19-17 and force the Mustangs into a timeout.
 
Despite the best efforts of the Marauders, Western won the third set 25-18 following a series of lengthy rallies.
 
The Marauders again took an early three-point lead at the start of the fourth, but were unable to keep the Mustangs off their tail as the set was soon tied at 5-5, resulting in a McMaster timeout. 
 
Western came back to the court and hammered out three consecutive points to take the lead, however McMaster responded with a point run of their own to overtake the Mustangs at 8-9. An exchange of points evened up the score at 12-12, and again at 14-14.  The teams continued to match each other point for point until the Marauders began to pull away at 18-20 following Mustang errors.
 
The Mustangs were unwilling to allow the set to escape them, and soon had the Marauders matched at 22-22, and again at 24-24.
 
After trading points, McMaster took the advantage on a block from Taylor Brisebios and Rebecca Steckle. The set ended at 28-30, with Brisbois finishing things off with an ace to force a fifth set.
 
Earning the first points of the set and quickly establishing a five-point lead at 1-6, the Marauders returned to the court refreshed and ready to play. Rigorous defence by McMaster kept the previously successful attacks from the Mustangs at bay and forced a purple and white timeout at 4-9.
 
Fighting their way back, the Mustangs returned the favor by forcing a McMaster timeout at 8-9, before tying the score at 11-11.
 
Unfortunately, for the Mustangs the OUA West Division leaders scored four of the last five points to hand the purple and white a 12-15 set loss.  
 
"We played great," said starting right side hitter Aja Gyimah. "Everybody on the court was putting everything into it, everyone on the bench was putting everything into it. We stayed aggressive until the very end, and unfortunately we didn't win but I though it was really good energy out there."
 
First year Mustang Gyimah topped the scoresheet for both teams, earning 23 points across the five sets. Kelsey Veltman followed closely behind with 19 points, while Taylor Brisebois contributed 18.5 for the Marauders.
 
The Mustangs are back in action next weekend with home games against Toronto and Ryerson. Friday will see the Mustangs face off against the Varsity Blues at 6 p.m., with Saturday's match against the Rams also set for a 6 p.m. start. Fans can watch all the action live on OUA.tv.

Sunday, January 11

Waterloo 1 @ Brock 3 (25-20, 25-10, 22-25, 25-23)
ST CATHARINES, Ont - The Brock University women's volleyball team (6-7 OUA) defeated the Waterloo Warriors (2-10 OUA) by the score of 3-1 (25-20, 25-10, 22-25, 25-23), Sunday afternoon, at the Bob Davis Gymnasium.

The two teams traded points in the opening set before Brock eventually knotched it's first win of the game, by the score of  25-20. Brock controlled the second frame taking the set 25-10. 

The Warriors weren't to be outdone just yet, taking a hard fought win out of the third frame, which saw both teams with chances to win the set. Waterloo battled back in the final game, but a highlight reel dig by Brock's Karlinna O'Leary turned the match in the Badgers favour, leading to the 3-1 victory for the home side.

Leading the Badgers attack were Renee Helmer (14 kills, 8 digs), Stacie Thomas (11 kills, 2 digs), and Abby Jenkins (10 kills, 7 digs) who each reached double digits kills in Sunday's matinee. Maddie Brown rounded out Brock's offence, tallying seven kills and three digs. Lauren Stirling reached 1400 career assists with another strong performance where the senior collected a game-high 38 helpers. The Badgers defence was led by O'Leary, who added a match-high 29 digs in the victory.

Waterloo's offence was led by Claire Mckenzie, Sammie Gwodz, and Shannon Lodoen who registered 13, seven, and seven respective kills. Warrior setter, Emily Needles, tallied 28 assists in the loss, while Bartmann helped out on defence collecting 18 digs in the match.

The Badgers hit .220 for the match, tallying 49 kills and 18 errors on 141 total attempts. Waterloo finished with a .098 hitting percentage collecting 37 kills and 23 errors 143 total attempts. 

The Badgers return to action this Friday, January 16 when they welcome the Guelph Gryphons to Bob Davis Gymnasium.
York 3 @ Queens 2 (20-25, 16-25, 25-20, 25-16, 11-15)
KINGSTON, Ont. (January 11, 2015) – This Sunday the Gaels (9-4) fell to the York Lions (7-5) 2-3 in a tough fought match, snapping their six game winning streak with set scores 20-25, 16-25, 25-20, 25-16 and 11-15. 
 
Brett Hagarty (Aurora, Ont.) opened the scoring in the first set for the Gaels with an unstoppable kill against York. The play went back and forth between the two teams until the Lions managed to get a seven-point streak putting them comfortably ahead of the Gaels 23-13.  Queen's managed to close the 10-point gap down at the Lions game point but a final kill by York player Veneta Mincheva ended the first set at 25-20.
 
In the second set the Lions opened the scoring against the Gaels and continued to lead for the rest of the set, as Queen's was unable to get ahead.  York had a strong cross-court attack against the Gaels and managed to get behind the Queen's blocks to take the set 25-16.
 
In the third set Queen's rallied hard, finally managing to grab a point advantage at the 14-point mark with successful attacks by the Gaels.  Defensive efforts by Queen's shutdown the Lions attack which enabled Brett Hagarty to bring the Gaels to game point with a serving ace.  An attacking error by York gave Queen's their first set win on the afternoon at 25-20.
 
Once again, in the fourth set the Lions opened the scoring but the Gaels turned up the heat with Shannon Neville (Cambridge, Ont.) setting the tone for the next set.  Play went back and forth between the two teams until the 11-point mark where the Gaels managed to get a back-to-back four-point and five-point streaks putting them well ahead of the Lions.  Neville finished off the set for Queen's with a kill from Danielle Blumentrath (Burlington, Ont.), 25-16, forcing a final fifth set to determine the outcome of the match.
 
Neville opened the scoring for Queen's in the final set but the Lions quickly grabbed a slight lead, taking the advantage.  Despite a hard fought match by the Gaels, the York Lions managed a few sly tips over Queen's blocks to take the set to game point.  A serving error by the Gaels finished the match at 15-11, giving the Lions the 3-2 win over Queen's.
 
The top scorer in today's game was the York Lions Brittney Hopley with a game high of 20 kills and one serving ace.  Close behind was Neville who led the attack for the Gaels with 18 kills and eight digs.  On defence the Gaels Katie Hagarty (Aurora, Ont.), Niki Slikboer (Seagrave, Ont.) and Blumentrath held down the fort with three assisted blocks each. 
 
The Gaels are back in action next Saturday at 3pm at RMC against the Paladins.
Ottawa 3 @ Lakehead 0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-18)
The Thunderwolves volleyball team were defeated Sunday afternoon, 3-0 at the hands of the Ottawa Gee-Gees (25-15. 25-16, 25-18).
 
The story was once again told by the disparity in errors committed by the two teams, Lakehead committing 15 hitting errors to Ottawa's 4, three of which came in the first set. Ottawa's offense just got more efficient as the match progressed.
 
In the first set, with the score 10-7 for Ottawa, an 8-1 run by the Gee-Gees was enough for them to coast to an easy set win. The second set was more of the same, this time Ottawa rolling off a 6-1 run early, followed by a 6-2 run late in the set.
 
Lakehead looked a lot better in the third set, battling back from down 9-5 to tie the game at 10-10. A 7-3 run by the Gee-Gees more or less sealed the set and match for Ottawa, whose record moved to 9-3 on the season.
 
Ottawa's veteran-laden roster was led by Kaly Soro with 10 kills on 15 attempts.
 
Jen Casey registered 10 kills to lead the 'Wolves, and Sara Potter (photo left) had 6 kills and 5 digs in one of her best games yet as a Thunderwolf.
 
Setter Vanessa Masters made 22 assists with 5 digs, while Breanne Hilhorst mad 11 digs on defense.
 
Coach Chris Green:
 
"The girls showed up today. I know it's a loss but in life small victories are huge gains. We as a staff were proud of the energy and focus on the Thunderwolves today! The youth issues appeared and cost us against one of the best and most consistent programs in OUA and CIS. I know the girls are happier with their response to yesterday, but not satisfied with the result. That again, shows growth!"
 
"We will build off that this week and be prepared for a tough road trip to North Bay and York next weekend."

Source: Lakehead Thunderwolves

McMaster 3 @ Windsor 0 (11-25, 19-25, 11-25)

The Lancer women's volleyball team opened up 2015 with a loss to the OUA defending champion McMaster Marauders.
 
Windsor (4-7) was swept 3-0 (11-25, 19-25, 11-25) by the first place Marauders (9-3) on Sunday afternoon at the St. Denis Centre.
 
After a slow start, the Lancers changed up their line-up in the second which improved their game play and kept the game close with the visiting Marauders. However in third, the Lancers could not maintain their momentum as the Marauders continued to dominate the court.
 
Windsor was led by Melissa Smyth with eight kills, and Shannon Dean with six. Defensively,tThe Lancers were led by Richelle Brown with 11 digs.
 
Joanna Jedrzejewska led the visiting Marauders with 12 kills, while Rebecca Steckle contributed eight kills and six digs.
 
The Lancers will take to the court again next weekend when they host the Ryerson Rams on Friday night and the Toronto Varsity Blues on Saturday. Both games are slated for 6:00pm at the St. Denis Centre and can be seen live at www.oua.tv.

Source: Windsor Lancers

Nipissing 3 @ RMC 1 (25-19, 25-17, 25-12, 25-19)

Battling adversity is always the sign of a good team and while things haven't been going as smoothly as the Lakers would like in terms of wins and losses, Sunday's win was a big statement.

After a tough loss Saturday and losing the first set to RMC Sunday, the Lakers showed a lot of character in winning the next three sets to claim the match victory.

After losing the first set 25-19, the Lakers responded by winning 25-17, 25-12 and 25-19 to take the match in four sets.

For the second straight day, Tracy Hammerton led the Lakers attack, picking up 12 kills.

Annabelle Harvey had a strong day, earning 10 kills and Christina Caruso added eight for Nipissing.

The win snapped a losing streak for the Lakers and now gives them four wins on the season, just their second in the OUA.

They will be back at home this weekend for a single game, hosting the Lakehead ThunderWolves Saturday at noon.

Source: Nipissing Lakers