The Lancer women's volleyball team split a pair of home games this weekend as part of the Lancers 10th annual Breast Cancer Awareness Day.
They lost a tough game 3-0 (24-26, 21-25, 13-25) to the McMaster Marauders on Saturday afternoon before rebounding on Sunday to defeated the Brock Badgers in five sets 3-2 (27-25, 16-25, 25-23, 12-25, 15-10).
The split moves the Blue & Gold to 4-8 on the season and are in fifth place in the west division standings.
SATURDAY
Windsor saw some strong defense from Carleigh Bailey and Rachael Cauchi early in the first set. Jade Ziebarth led the Lancers with some strong serves late in the game to help Windsor go on a seven point streak to inch ahead of the Marauders 20-18.
However, the Marauders played smart, and hit strategically to gain their two points back and eventually take the set.
Cauchi led the Lancers offensively with six of the Lancers 10 kills in the set.
Melissa Smyth and Sabrina Safranyos started the second set with some killer blocks to completely stifle the McMaster attack. Both teams showed great defense that resulted in many intense rallies.
Late in the set McMaster's Aleks Arsovic stepped up for the visitors with three big hits late to pull away and take the set.
In the third, the Lancers struggled early with their serve receive as MAC pulled ahead 12-7. McMaster continued their solid offense throughout the set picking up 11 kills to take the game.
Cauchi led the game offensively for the Blue & Gold with 10 kills, while Bailey finished the match with 20 digs.
SUNDAY
Jade Ziebarth came out strong at the net with three kills to give the Lancers early motivation. However, both teams struggled with technical errors throughout the whole set that kept the score close. Late in the game, Brock struggled with unforced errors, hitting many balls out of bounds that allowed Lancers to grab the win in extra points.
Windsor struggled to formulate any sort of offense in the beginning of the set and allowed Brock to take an early lead. Their momentum continued to fall and as a result Brock finished the set with 10 kills to easily tie the game with a score of 25-16.
In the third, Windsor capitalized on a number of Brock's long shots, and were led offensively by Melissa Smyth. The Badgers battled back with nine straight points to bring the game within one, but a huge hit from Smyth secured the set victory 25-23.
What could have been a brand new Badger squad appeared on the court in the fourth, as they dominated the set from start to finish. Renee Helmer led the way for the visitors with some solid defense as Brock easily took the set 25-12 to force a fifth and final set.
In the fifth, Smyth again took control at the net collecting three big kills early. Windsor used Brock's struggle with serve receives to pull away and take the game 15-10.
UP NEXT
The Lancers will now hit the road for a few weeks, starting on Saturday when they make the short trip up the 401 to London to take on the first place Western Mustangs. The game is scheduled for 1:00pm and can be seen live at www.oua.tv.
