The No. 2 University of Toronto Varsity Blues women's volleyball team defeated the Nipissing Lakers 3-0 (25-17, 25-14, 25-13) in OUA quarter-final action on Saturday night (Mar. 12) at Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport.
 
With the win, the Blues will now host the Queen's Gaels at Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport on Wednesday, March 16 at 6 p.m. The winner of that game will play in the OUA final on Saturday, March 19. Both participants in the OUA final will qualify for the U SPORTS championship taking place at the University of Calgary on Mar. 25 - 27.
 
"We were aggressive and we came out strong," said head coach Kristine Drakich. "We were disciplined in our systems and strong in our attacking."
 
TORONTO STATS: Rookie outside Julia Murmann made her playoff debut in style, finishing with 20 points off of 19 kills and one service ace.

Helping out Murmann on this night was third-year outside Hope Kotun, who had 10 kills of her own as well as one service ace. Another rookie, Asya Dogruer added eight kills in the win along with two service aces.

On the defensive side, libero Sophia Currier had 13 digs, followed by Murmann who had 10. Setter Hayley Goodwin dished out 39 assists.

As a team, the Blues hit .387, accumulating 43 kills with only nine errors.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED: The first set started out even at 7-7 before Toronto went on a run, including a Murmann attack out of the pipe to make it 10-7. Jenna Woock's kill would cause the Lakers to call a timeout at 13-8. Nipissing would be forced to call a timeout again at 22-17 after a Hope Kotun kill. The Blues would cruise to a 25-17 set one victory.

In the second set, the Blues started out strong, putting up an 11-5 lead on Kotun's sixth kill. Nipissing would chip away at the lead, getting it as close as 11-8, before Toronto would take the second technical timeout with a score of 16-9.  Back-to-back kills from Murmann and Dogruer would cause coach Marc LaRochelle to call a timeout. The Blues would run away with the second set, 25-14.

The third would begin much tighter with the Lakers keeping pace with the Blues at 9-9. Toronto would charge ahead with back-to-back aces from Woock, causing the Lakers to take their first timeout at 12-9. The Blues would roll out to a 19-10 lead and would never look back, winning 25-13.
  
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