The Varsity Blues women's volleyball team are moving onto the U SPORTS consolation final after a 3-2 (25-21, 25-18, 22-25, 22-25, 15-13) five-set victory over the host Calgary Dinos on Saturday (Mar. 26).
With the win, the Blues will get a chance to avenge their Quigley Cup loss to the Brock Badgers. The two teams will square off for fifth place at 2:00 p.m. tomorrow (Mar. 27).
"It was definitely a challenging match, and I'm pretty excited we ended up on the winning side of it," said head coach Kristine Drakich. "We just tried to stay our course, stay calm and execute and do our system."
Drakich reflected on the upcoming matchup with Brock, "It's exciting to replay our gold medal match. To be playing on the last day of a U SPORTS season is quite an accomplishment and I'm thrilled that we have that opportunity to be here because few teams get to play on the last day of a U SPORTS championship."
TORONTO STATS: Playing in her home province of Alberta, third-year outside hitter Hope Kotun led all Blues attackers with 17 kills.
All-Canadians Julia Murmann and Jenna Woock were not far behind, notching 15 and 14 kills, respectively. Murmann would add two service aces to finish with 17 points, while Woock provided two blocks to finish with 16.
Rookie Asya Dogruer added 10 kills of her own.
Murmann led the backcourt with 22 digs, while libero Sophia Currier provided 15.
MIKASA TOP PERFORMER: OUA all-star Hayley Goodwin delivered a spectacular performance, finishing with 53 assists and 16 digs.
The veteran setter reflected on the key to the team's victory, "We went hard at the service line and put them out of system. We got a lot of high balls on their side which let us run our system and our way of playing."
"We're really excited to play Brock again. We've only played them once so we haven't played them a whole lot," said Goodwin. "In the end though, it's not about the other side of the net but what we do and our systems. That's going to be the determining factor at the end of the day."
HOW IT HAPPENED: The Dinos got out to a hot start putting the Blues on their heels and forcing multiple timeouts at 4-0 and 11-5. The Blues fought back, rattling off five straight including a Murmann kill that reduced the lead to 11-10, forcing a Dinos timeout. Toronto would take the technical timeout 16-15 and stop a possible Dinos rally, taking the first set, 25-21.
In the second set, the Blues got out to a 14-11 lead, forcing a Dinos timeout as Kotun and Murmann would notch back-to-back kills. A Sophie Bento Buczmiejuk ace off the bench gave the Blues a 21-17 lead and led to another Dinos timeout. Toronto would go on a 4-1 run to cap off the second set, 25-18.
The Dinos put some pressure on the Blues, causing a timeout at 6-3 and 11-6. This seemed to spark the Blues as they tied it up at 14-14 with middle Jenna Woock leading the charge with multiple kills. Though Calgary got to the technical timeout first at 16-14, the Blues offence would cause the home team to call their second timeout. Calgary would not go away taking the 23-21 lead and ultimately taking the set by a score of 25-22.
Calgary would continue putting on the pressure as outside hitter Kenzie Vandeering went on a 3-0 serving run, putting the Blues down 6-3. After the Blues timeout, Toronto went on a run of their own, making it 8-6, leading to Calgary having to regroup with a timeout. The Blues carried their momentum to a 16-13 technical timeout lead. Asya Dogruer's ninth kill forced a Calgary timeout with the Blues up 18-14. The Dinos didn't go away as they would storm back and take the fourth set, 25-22.
In the fifth and deciding set, the Blues got out to a 6-3 lead off of multiple Dino errors which forced the Calgary team to call a timeout. Toronto would get to the switch first, taking the 8-4 lead. Calgary continued to push back, forcing a Toronto timeout with the Blues up 10-9. The rest of the fifth set would go back and forth until 13-13, when Murmann notched her 15
th kill of the match and a subsequent Calgary hitting error gave the Blues the 15-13 five-set victory.
