Box Score Photo Gallery

The University of Toronto Varsity Blues women's volleyball team have earned a chance to defend their provincial title on home court following a thrilling 3-1 (19-25, 25-16, 25-19, 30-28) victory over the McMaster Marauders in OUA semifinal action on Friday night at the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport.
 
Toronto will take on the winner of Western/Ryerson in the gold-medal match tomorrow night at 8 p.m., at Goldring Centre. The winner of that match will also earn the OUA's lone berth to the CIS championship next weekend (March 11-13) at Brandon University.
 
McMaster will face the loser of tonight's second semifinal in the OUA bronze-medal match at 6 p.m., tomorrow. Advance tickets are on sale here. Both games will also be streamed live on OUA.tv.
 
OUA East player of the year Alina Dormann led all players with 20 points for the Blues, notching 19 kills and one block, while adding 17 digs on the night.
 
Second-year left side hitter Anna Feore had 13 kills and 21 digs, while veteran left Caleigh Cruickshank had 11 kills and 13 digs.
 
Third-year middle Tessa Davis shone with eight kills and three blocks. Fourth-year setter Madelyn Mandryk tallied 48 assists and 10 digs, with fellow OUA first team all-star Denise Wooding adding 14 digs in the win.
 
The Marauders came out hot and thanks to some great play from OUA second team all-star Maicee Sorensen, led the Blues 16-11 at the first set break. Toronto rallied to bring the set within four, but the Marauders answered the call to take the first 25-19 and hand U of T their first deficit since Oct. 31. 
 
The Blues bounced back in the second, building an early 10-4 advantage. The Marauders rallied on a 6-2 streak, highlighted by a big kill from Taylor Brisebois, but a huge block from Davis put Toronto up 16-13 at the technical timeout. Davis kept firing and four late kills from Cruickshank evened the match with a 25-16 second set Toronto victory.
 
The third set was a see-saw battle with neither team holding more than a three-point advantage in the early goings. A 6-2 Toronto run, capped off by a Dormann kill, put Toronto up 16-11 at the technical timeout and Dormann finished off the third, 25-19, to put the Blues up 2-1 in the match.
 
Toronto got out to an early 4-1 lead in the fourth set and carried a 16-10 lead into the break. McMaster bounced back though and evened the score at 17-17 and it went back and forth from there, tying up until 28-28. The Blues earned the thrilling win off a Radan block and final kill from Dormann to book their ticket to tomorrow's final, 30-28.
 
Sorensen led the Marauders with 19 points on 11 kills, five blocks and three aces. Fellow OUA all-star Rebecca Stecklie notched seven kills, five blocks, one ace and eight digs, while third-year libero led all players with 24 digs in the loss.
 
STAT LEADERS
 
Toronto
Kills: Alina Dormann (19), Anna Feore (13)
Points: Alina Dormann (20), Anna Feore (17)
Blocks: Bojana Radan (3), Tessa Davis (3)
Digs: Anna Feore (21)
Assists: Madelyn Mandryk (48)
Service aces: Anna Feore (1), Madelyn Mandryk (1)
 
Player of the match: Alina Dormann
 
McMaster
Kills: Maicee Sorensen (11)
Points: Maicee Sorensen (19)
Blocks: Rebeecca Steckle (5)
Digs: Carly Heath (24)
Assists: Caitlin Genovy (19), Michelle CHelladurai (16)
Service aces: Maicee Sorensen (3)
 
Player of the match: Carly Heath
 
OUA FINAL FOUR SCHEDULE & RESULTS
 
Friday, March 4
6:00pm Semifinal #1: Toronto 3, McMaster 1 (19-25, 25-16, 25-19, 30-28)
8:00pm Semifinal #2: Western vs Ryerson    
 
Saturday, March 5
6:00pm Bronze medal match: McMaster vs Loser Semifinal #2
8:00pm Gold medal match: Toronto vs Winner Semifinal #2