EDMONTON - In their first match of the 2010 CIS championship, the Varsity Blues women’s volleyball team played a tough, gritty game against the No. 3 Manitoba Bisons, however could not find the finishing touch and fell 3-0 (21-25, 20-25, 19-25) on Friday evening in the Main Gym at the University of Alberta.
Toronto will face the loser of the fourth quarter-final match between the host University of Alberta Pandas and the University of Montreal Carabins in the second consolation semifinal, tomorrow afternoon at 2:30 p.m. (MST).
First-team all-Canadian Heather Bansley, the OUA player of the year, paced the Varsity Blues with a match-high 13 kills, while also adding 10 digs. The Waterdown, Ont., native led CIS this season in kills per set and aces, and was a force all night.
Tricia Mayba, a third-year middle from Winnipeg, led the Bison attack with 12 kills, while first-team all-Canadian Ashley Voth, a member of Canada’s national team and also from the Manitoba capital, chipped in with nine kills. Middle Amy Penner and setter Sam Loewen, originally from East St. Paul, Man., added two aces apiece as the Bisons spun five in total on Toronto, who struggled on receptions.
In their first head-to-head meeting on the national stage since 1999, Manitoba had a few hiccups against a stubborn Varsity Blues team. Toronto and Manitoba were making their return to the CIS championship after five- and two-year absences, respectively.
“I thought we played pretty good defence and we transitioned well,” said Blues head coach Kristine Drakich. “We were in the game quite a bit but had a little trouble finishing it. Manitoba played well down the stretch – we played with them up to a certain point – and then they played a little bit better.”
The first set featured six lead changes as both teams struggled to hold on to momentum. The Blues opened up with a 4-1 lead, but soon enough the Bisons had earned a 6-5 advantage, only to have Toronto back in front 8-7 at the first technical timeout.
Manitoba jumped ahead for good at 20-19, winning the first set 25-21.
The Varsity Blues again started with lead in the second. Up 2-0, it quickly evaporated was they weren't able to come back as Manitoba managed to get back in front, and stay there, but only with leads of 5-4 and 11-10.
Toronto struggled at the service line in the second set, committing six service errors, spotting the Bisons to an 18-14 lead - their largest of the second stanza at that point. The Blues got back to within three points at 23-20 but couldn’t close it out, eventually losing 25-20 to fall behind two sets to none.
“Serving in one of our strengths and so sometimes you live and die by it,” said Drakich. “Manitoba’s a good team and you can’t serve easy but we did serve a little carelessly - that was a little frustrating because we are generally not a that careless of a serving team.”
In the third, the Bisons continued to hold the lead and flirt with blowing out the Blues but Toronto hung around and kept coming back, trying to keep their medal hopes alive.
After fighting back to earn a 10-10 tie, the Blues scored four straight only to see Manitoba roll off a 4-0 run of their own and re-take the lead. From there, the game see-sawed back and forth and the Blues were never able to mount the attack necessary to overtake a tough Manitoba team.
NOTE: Karlee Diesing (Coquitlam, B.C.) and Michelle Wood of Toronto had 14 digs apiece for the Blues. Rightside hitter Kristina Valjas and middle Lauren Willoughby each added eight kills in the loss
Manitoba and Toronto have not met at a national championship event since the 1999 tournament where the Bisons downed the Blues in straight sets. The Varsity Blues have failed to beat the Bisons in three prior meetings (1996, 1992, 1989).
Manitoba used a .480 attack percentage in the final frame to close out Toronto.
