With a come-from-behind victory, the Varsity Blues are moving on to the Quigley Cup final. The No. 2 University of Toronto Varsity Blues women's volleyball team defeated the Queen's Gaels 3-2 (25-14, 21-25, 21-25, 25-27, 15-10) in the OUA semifinal on Wednesday night (Mar. 16) at Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport.
 
With the win, the Blues will take on the Brock Badgers in the Quigley Cup final on Saturday, March 19 at 7:00 p.m. Both teams have qualified for the U SPORTS championship taking place at the University of Calgary from March 25 - 27.
 
Coach Kristine Drakich reflected on the victory, "Queen's played very well and were really strong at the net. They hit the ball hard and served tough. We just kept playing our systems, and we never doubted ourselves and stayed our course."

"Even if we were down, our goal was to take care of our first contact, play hard on defence and swing and attack high, and I feel we executed our system well," said first-year outside Julia Murmann.

"I was feeling a lot of energy from my teammates and I felt a lot of support. When I went up to swing, I felt they had my back and I just went up and swung free."
 
TORONTO STATS: Murmann would once again lead the Blues, providing a game-high 25 kills along with a service ace and a solo block.

First-year outside Asya Dogruer provided 13 kills, three service aces and a block assist, while fellow outside Hope Kotun chipped in with 10 points off of eight kills, one service ace and one block.

Murmann led all players with 21 digs, while veteran libero Sophia Currier had 19 digs. Third-year setter Hayley Goodwin dished out a game-high 55 assists in the win.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED: The Blues stormed out to an early 8-2 lead, causing coach Ryan Ratushniak to call his first timeout. The timeout did not slow down the Blues attack as Julia Murmann would get multiple kills to get the Blue and White to the technical timeout at 16-9. Queen's called an immediate timeout after Toronto got their 17th point. Murmann's third kill gave the Blues a nine-point cushion at 20-11. An Arielle Palermo service ace would get Queen's within 6 (20-14) and cause the Blues to call their first timeout. It didn't stop the Toronto momentum as the Blues would take the first set, 25-14.

The second set started even until the Blues got out to a three-point advantage at 8-5, prompting another Queen's early timeout. Multiple kills from second-year outside Hannah Duchesneau got the Gaels back to 10-10 leading to Toronto's first timeout. It would be back and forth up to the technical timeout with Queen's taking the 16-15 lead. The Gaels would open up a 22-20 advantage causing Kristine Drakich to use her second and final timeout. An ace from middle Lauren Mellon off of the timeout would not help matters for the Blues as they would go down by a score of 25-21.

In the third, neither team gained a significant advantage until 12-10. A couple of Blues errors led to a timeout call in the hopes of settling down the team. The Gaels would get to the technical timeout first at 16-14. Another Blues timeout was called at 18-16 as the Blues were determined to not let the advantage get insurmountable. The Gaels opened up a five-point lead at 23-18 as Duchesneau tipped the ball past a diving Hayley Goodwin and Mellon blasted the ball into the open court. The Gaels would take the set, 25-21.
 
With their backs against the wall, the Blues responded by surging out to a 9-5 lead. Murmann was a big reason for this momentum, putting multiple kills away from Gael defenders and causing Queen's to call their first timeout. Queen's slowly inched back, even taking the lead at 14-13. Murmann's solo block on Queen's Saffron van der Linde swung the momentum back to Toronto's side, ultimately getting them to the technical timeout at 16-14. Two straight points would cause Ratushniak to call the team's second timeout. Murmann would continue hammering the ball down, giving the Blues a 21-17 advantage. A Duchesneau block and Blues attack error would narrow the lead to 22-21 and prompt a timeout. The teams would trade back and forth before a Jenna Woock ace would seal the fourth set for the Blues, 27-25.

In the fifth and deciding set, the Blues got out to a 5-2 lead off of back-to-back Dogruer aces, causing a Queen's timeout. The lead ballooned to 7-2 as Jenna Woock notched her sixth kill of the match. Arielle Palermo's kill would cause Toronto to call a timeout as the Gaels scored three straight points. Murman's 25th kill would give the Blues an 11-8 advantage and a Gaels timeout. A couple of Blues hitting errors narrowed the lead to 12-10 but they would not be stopped on Wednesday night, winning the set, 15-10. 
  
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