The No. 3 University of Toronto Varsity Blues women's volleyball team's comeback effort fell short against the No. 2 Brock Badgers (25-15, 25-17, 17-25, 25-15) in the OUA final at Brock University on March 19.

With their win over the Queen's Gaels on Wednesday, the Varsity Blues qualified for the U SPORTS championship taking place in Calgary, Alta., from March 25-27.
 
TORONTO STATS: Rookie Julia Murmann led all hitters with 18.5 points off of 17 kills, one service ace, and an assisted block. The Toronto, Ont. product also led all Blues with nine digs.

Fellow rookie Asya Dogruer contributed 11 kills, one service ace and 2.5 blocks.

In the middle, Anna Maria Gadomski produced four blocks, while setter Hayley Goodwin had 40 assists.

HOW IT HAPPENED: The first set was even with no team gaining more than a two-point advantage until the Badgers would get leads of 9-6 and 12-9 with the latter causing a Toronto timeout. The Badgers would roar out to an 18-12 advantage as Toronto used their second and final timeout. Continuing their pressure, the Badgers would take the first set, 25-15.

A 7-3 Brock lead caused the Blues to call an early timeout. The Badgers momentum would continue as their lead grew to six (14-8) before Toronto called their second and final timeout. The timeouts did not stop the Badgers momentum as they extended their lead to ten points (20-10). The Blues effort would come up short, dropping the second set, 25-17.

With the Blues backs against the wall, head coach Kristine Drakich went to her bench inserting rookie outside hitter Natalia Souza to start the set. The third set would begin differently for the Blues as they came out to an 8-5 lead and a Brock timeout was immediately called. The Blues would separate themselves, heading into the technical timeout with a five-point lead (16-11). Toronto would head out to a 22-15 advantage from Asya Dogruer's multiple kills and would take the third set by a score of 25-16.

It was a quick 3-0 start for the Badgers in the fourth, which caused a Toronto timeout. The Badgers would go up 11-2 as Drakich's substitutions continued to try and stem the momentum. Gadomski had multiple blocks in an attempt to start a Blues comeback, but the Blues would go down 16-7 at the technical timeout and 20-10 at the time of their second timeout. The Blues would put up a comeback effort but it was not enough as the Badgers would take the fourth set, 25-15.
 
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