Ladies win exciting five-set match against Rams
The Golden Hawks women's vollevball team split points last weekend, dropping three straight sets to the Toronto Varsity Blues on Friday, before battling the Ryerson Rams on Saturday at the Athletic Complex. The ladies managed to beat the Rams in five exciting sets.
The Hawks came out strong, dominating the first set. Veteran hitter Teresa Wick and second-year middle Megan Gilmore made several strong plays contributing to the 25-17 final.
A few minor errors in the second set put the Hawks back, but it soon turned into a tight game with the Hawks coming from behind to win 25-23. "We came out and we were quite focused, and executed well the first two sets," said Head Coach Luke Snider. "We did a really good job of staying calm and doing the little things well."
Despite solid blocking from setter Brittany Brunt and middle Stephanie Schleiffer, and formidable smashes from outside hitter Tesca Andrew-Wasylik, the Hawks lost their third set 25-22.
The fourth set of play was an intense neck-and-neck battle, with the Hawks looking desperately for win, and the Rams hoping simply to tie things up.
Wick and Gilmore remained a dynamic duo, making more great plays and robbing Ryerson of several points. Andrew-Wasylik continued to hammer out hits into Rams territory, maintaining a very close game between the two teams.
With tight blocking at the net and great rallying overall, the Hawks secured another point going into the last technical timeout just shy of Ryerson 20-23.
Back in action, Gilmore found some open floor space with her spike to make it 21-23.
A fumble from Ryerson gave the Hawks an additional point, but Laurier slipped with a poor spike just outside the line. Luckily, Ryerson made another fumble at the net to make the score 24-24.
Wick, along with left-side Amy Cook, both executed good plays to earn additional points for the Hawks, but Ryerson retaliated and the score settled at 26. Schleiffer made two spikes, but after another great rally Ryerson took the point.
Soon enough, the Hawks came back with two more points. Cook, with another tip, made it 28-27 for Laurier, but her out-of-bounds serve evened the score out yet again.
Setter Kristi Town faked out the Rams twice with a pair of back-hands, bringing the nail-biter to 30-30.
The set finally came to an end with Ryerson earning the final two points and the win. "In the third and fourth set we ran into some trouble. We weren't handling the pressure that Ryerson put back on us well enough to finish them off in three," said coach Snider.
Laurier managed to seal their victory in the fifth set 15-6, thus moving their season record to 3-5. "I thought we showed our experience and talent," Snider commented.
The girls travel to Kingston this weekend, facing the RMC Paladins Friday and Queen's Gaels on Saturday.
