W-VOLLEYBALL FINAL FOUR ROUNDUP: No. 3 Varsity Blues, No. 6 Gee-Gees advance to OUA final
Friday, February 20
Guelph 1 @ Ottawa 3 (25-19, 16-25, 25-19, 25-16)
UPDATE: The Gee-Gees will meet the Toronto Varsity Blues in the OUA gold medal game at the University of Guelph at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday. Since Toronto is hosting the CIS Championship, Ottawa has now automatically qualified for the OUA conference berth in the tournament which runs February 26-March 1.
The uOttawa Gee-Gees women's volleyball team will return to the OUA gold medal match for the fourth straight season following a 3-1 win over the host Guelph Gryphons in the semi final Friday night. Second year left side attacker Kaly Soro led the way with 18 points, including the final point of the match to clinch the 25-19, 16-25, 25-19, 25-16 win.
Soro had three service aces and 15 kills in the win while Myriam English was named the Player of the Match with 12 kills and 15 digs. English was the emotional leader for Ottawa when Guelph came back with an impressive second set to tie up the match and threatened to take over in the third.
"I really felt Myriam and Sabrina [Roy] in particular helped our emotion and drive in the third," said Gee-Gees head coach Lionel Woods. "Guelph found a crack in our play and we looked uncomfortable for a bit but really came together to change our rhythm of play."
The teams went point for point in early going. The Gee-Gees blockers picked up some big points in the first set, helping Ottawa separate to a 14-11 lead. The lead grew to 17-13 before some lapses on the Gee-Gees side let the score creep back to 18-17. An ace from Kelsie English gave Ottawa some breathing room and the offensive rhythm fell into place. Kelsie English finished off the first with a hit from the right side.
Guelph pulled ahead 9-6 to start the second set, causing an Ottawa timeout. Two Ottawa attack errors added to the Gryphons lead 11-6. The run continued to 16-6 thanks to excellent serving by Rebecca Breau keeping Ottawa on its heels.
A long rally was won by Ottawa to stop the run at 16-7 but Guelph had all of the momentum and took the set 25-16. Ottawa did score a flurry of solid points at the end of the set, setting themselves up for the third.
Guelph grabbed a 9-5 lead to start the third. A big swing by Myriam English landed at 11-8 and she would score again to make it 11-10 before Alix Durivage floated an ace over to tie things up. Another ace extended the lead to 18-15. The Gryphons clawed back to 20-18 but misfired late and saw Ottawa take it 25-19.
The Gee-Gees opened a 10-4 lead in the fourth. A big block from Tome and Durivage put Ottawa ahead 14-7 and an ace by Kelsie trickled over the tape 15-7. The Gryphons staged a late rally to make it 18-12 however Ottawa would not falter down the stretch.
The Gee-Gees will face the winner of the second semi final between the Western Mustangs and the Toronto Varsity Blues. The OUA gold medal game will begin at 8:30 p.m. and will be webcast on OUA.tv
Source: Ottawa Gee-Gees
Western 2 @ Toronto 3 (25-7, 15-25, 25-19, 23-25, 15-7)
The No. 3 nationally ranked University of Toronto Varsity Blues women's volleyball team defeated the Western Mustangs 3-2 (25-7, 15-25, 25-19, 23-25, 15-7) in OUA semi-final action on Friday night (Feb. 20) in Guelph, Ont.
The Blues advance to their first OUA final since 2010 and will face the Ottawa Gee-Gees for the OUA banner on Saturday night (Feb. 21) at 8:30 p.m. in Guelph. The game will be streamed live on OUA.tv.
"We started very strong and finished strong," said Kristine Drakich, who was named OUA East coach of the year for the eighth time in her career this past week. "Western played very well after the first set and the match had a lot of ups and downs. We weathered a few storms, stayed the course and a solid finish closed it out."
Fifth-year left side hitter Charlotte Sider notched her 1,000th career kill (regular season and playoffs) in recording a team-high 17.5 points on the night. The Ottawa native tallied 14 kills, four blocks and one ace.
Third-year standout Caleigh Cruickshank led the Blues with 15 kills and had seven digs and two blocks, while Jennifer Neilson added 10 kills, nine digs and seven blocks. Fellow veteran Bojana Radan was unstoppable at the net, notching 13 blocks and seven kills.
Third-year setter Madelyn Mandryk added 45 assists and eight digs, while libero Asli Ersozoglu recorded 16 digs in the win.
The Mustangs were led by Aja Gyimah's 16-kill performance.
The Blues will be out for revenge over the Gee-Gees tomorrow night, after the No. 6 Ottawa team spoiled Toronto's perfect regular season record with a 3-2 decision two weeks ago.
Source: Toronto Varsity Blues
