The Windsor Lancers put forth a solid effort against the defending bronze medalist Waterloo Warriors on Saturday afternoon from the Physical Activities Complex in Waterloo. Unfortunately, the Lancers fell to the Warriors 3-1 (21-25, 19-25, 25-22, 17-25).
 
The loss moves to 1-4 on the year while the Warriors improved to 3-2 on the season. 
 
This was the second time these teams met this season, as the Lancers hosted the Warriors two weeks ago, where the visitors took care of business in straight sets. Today, however, the Lancers managed to do slightly better than their last meeting by stealing a set off the Warriors in their gym.
 
GAME STATS
For the blue and gold, first-year outside hitter Yaila Sealy led the charge with 18 kills. Fourth-year Lexi Pollard chipped into the offensive effort with 12 kills on the afternoon, while defensively fourth-year Amie Slawson put up 20 digs led both sides in digs in the losing cause. 
 
Third-year setter Brooke Davis ran the offense well by contributing 43 assists in the loss. 
 
Waterloo's Sarah Glynn led the game in kills with 25, while Sarah Gagne lead the game in assists by dishing her team 53 in the win. 
 
GAME FLOW
Waterloo came out strong to start the first set. Establishing a dominant presence at home early was likely their goal in fending off the competitive Lancers. The Warriors jumped out to a 4-0 lead early before Windsor started to nip at their heals by chipping in with points of their own.  As the set went on Waterloo kept a comfortable distance from Windsor ensuring that they did not get back into the first set.
 
The hosts held a 10-point lead at one point, 21-11. The Lancers however would not go away easy as they managed to apply some pressure on the Warriors to make things interesting, bringing the game to within two points.  Despite the strong push by the blue and gold late, the black and gold would take the first set by a score of 25-21. 
 
In the second set, the Lancers managed to keep up their competitive play as both teams traded points early on. The set was a coin toss until Waterloo broke away right before the technical timeout and opened up a 4-point lead on the Lancers. The Warriors would go on to take the second set by a score of 25-19 on strong play. 
 
The third set is when it got really interesting for Windsor. The blue and gold opened up a 3-0 lead to start, then went on to engage in another back and forth battle with the Warriors. The Lancers trailed heading into the technical timeout again down 16-12. Waterloo continued to apply pressure on the Lancers not looking to let up while going on to hold a 22-13 lead on the blue and gold. This is where things started to click for the Lancers as they managed to rally back from a 9-point deficit to regain life in the set. 
 
The Lancers went on a rampage scoring 12 unanswered points thanks to strong serving from fourth year serving specialist Megan Kalbfleisch who slaughtered the Warriors serve receive from the service line. Kalbfleisch tallied 4 aces during her hot serving streak including three consecutive ones which came at the 22-16, 22-17, and 22-18 marks respectively.
 
With Kalbfleisch's strong serving run propelling the team, the Lancers managed to not only tie up the set at 22 apiece but also breakthrough late to win the third by a score of 25-22.
 
In the fourth set, it became a 'see-saw' event again seeing points exchanged both ways much like the second set. Around the midway mark of the set the Lancers were up 8-7 when Waterloo began to formulate a response. Watarloo's Glynn went on a tear offensively scoring multiple kills for her team helping the hosts extend their lead to 17-8 down the stretch. Consistent serving from Waterloo's Mackenzie Vallee also helped contribute to their lead extension in which the Lancers could never recover from and ultimately dropped the fourth set 25-17 and the match 3 sets to 1. 
 
UP NEXT
The blue and gold will now return home and will be back in action again next week on Friday night when they take on the Nipissing Lakers at home live from the Dennis Fairall Fieldhouse. First serve is scheduled for 6PM. You can purchase your tickets in advance at www.goLancers.ca/tickets or tune in live on OUA.tv.