The University of Toronto Varsity Blues women's volleyball team dropped an exciting four set contest versus the No. 10 Western Mustangs on Saturday (Feb. 14) afternoon inside Goldring Centre – Kimel Family Field House.
Set scores in the match were 21-25, 22-25, 26-24, 23-25
Delivering an action-packed contest for the home crowd, the Blues and Mustangs exchanged leads throughout the four-set regular season finale. Despite a slow start for the home side, U of T were able to keep pace with their nationally ranked opponents, remaining within striking distance near the end of each set. This allowed Toronto to earn a fourth set win, scoring four consecutive points during a Zeina Elnady service run to shift from trailing 22-24 to winning 26-24. The Blues nearly pulled off the same maneuver in the fourth as three big blocks late from the duo of Giulia Chimilovski and Thea Ziesmann drew U of T even. However, the Mustangs withstood the late surge to secure the road win.
The pair of Julia Liu and Olivia Zhu were busy for the Blues, posting 22 and 18 points, respectively. Liu finished with a game-high 19 kills, while adding two service aces and one solo block. Meanwhile, Zhu tallied 15 kills, two aces, and one solo block. Chimilovski also reached double-digit points with nine kills and three block assists. First-year setter Marina Gustke registered 30 or more assists for a tenth time, finishing the afternoon with 38. Defensively, libero Delaney Watson recorded a team-high 22 digs, while five different Blues reached double-digit digs in the back-and-forth match-up.
For the Mustangs, Emma Buntic led the attack with 17 kills, two aces and one solo block. Meanwhile, for the second straight contest Western libero Madeline Pelosi gave the home team fits, adding another 28 digs to lift her two-match total this weekend to 74.
Ending the regular season with an 11-9 record, the Blues will hit the road for an OUA quarter-final contest next Friday, Feb. 20. Further details for the OUA postseason match-up will become available following the conclusion of all regular season matches throughout the remainder of the weekend.
