The Windsor Lancer women's volleyball team battled hard this weekend at home against the U SPORTS nationally second place ranked Brock Badgers at the Toldo Lancer Centre on Friday and Saturday.
 
On Friday, the blue and gold were able to push the two-time defending Quigley Cup champion Badgers to the brink in a five-set thriller which resulted in 3-2 (20-25, 16-25, 26-24, 25-23, and 10-15) loss to Brock on home court. 
 
On Saturday the Lancers fell 3-0 (20-25, 16-25, 17-25) to the Badgers in the follow up rematch on the weekend at the TLC.  With the wins Brock improves to 13-1 while Windsor falls to 2-10.
 
FRIDAY GAME STATS
Yaila Sealy and Raiya Millin each had 12 kills for the Lancers in both equally leading the charge offensively for Windsor. 
 
Nicole Woelk put up a 39-assist performance which spectacularly kept the Lancers in it throughout the night including into the extra sets.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED ON FRIDAY
The Lancers were able to fight hard in the first set to stick with the Badgers early in the opening set.  Windsor was able to find momentum and cause Brock to burn an early time out after earning a 9-5 lead. 
 
After a momentum shift towards the midway point of the set Brock was able to snag control and finish off the first set on top 25-20 to go up 1-0 in the match.
 
The second set kicked off quite even keeled with both teams trading points and not letting one another get too far ahead in the set. 
 
Upon entry into the midway stages of the set the Lancers lost any edge that allowed them to remain within an arm's length of the Badgers where Brock capitalized with a 25-16 second set victory and 2-0 lead in the match.
 
The third set was a live stalemate throughout appearing as a too-close-to-call set throughout where the Lancers were able to play on par with the Badgers consistently during the third set to stave off a potential sweep. 
 
Windsor was able to thrive off the pro-Lancer crowd on hand down the stretch at the TLC and find a way to prolong the match to trigger a fourth set with a 26-24 third set win and make it a 2-1 Brock lead in the match. 
The fourth set was also a closely contested set that became a back-and-forth affair seeing the Lancers stick with the Badgers all throughout the duration of the set.
 
It came down to the wire when the Lancers were able to prove once again that they could indeed hold their own against the Quigley Cup champion Badgers with a 25-23 fourth set win to force a fifth and final deciding set being left to be played. 
 
A fight to fifteen it became when both teams returned to the floor in front of a raucous TLC crowd on hand to support the blue and gold at home.  Points were exchanged between both squads which increased the confidence of the Lancer ladies shortly before the Badgers found their groove to burst open a lead up on the host Lancers.
 
Brock would get to eight points first to trigger the side-switch, but the switching sides helped Windsor get back on track and comfortable with their usual side of the court. 
 
However the experienced Badgers brigade was able to close out with a harder than anticipated win in Windsor with a 15-10 polished five set victory over the determined and hungry Lancers.
 
SATURDAY GAME STATS
Yaila Sealy had 7 kills for the Lancers while Aliah Admans and Raiya Millin each put up 5 kills of their own in the Lancers sweeping loss to the Badgers on Saturday.
 
Nicole Woelk had 18 assists in the weekend's second loss to Brock.  Defensively Woelk led the charge with 10 digs as well for Windsor.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED ON SATURDAY
The Lancers played on even playing field with the Badgers early in set one before Brock was able to open up a large lead in the middle of the set and did not look back managing to come away with 25-20 first set win and go up 1-0 in the match on Windsor.
 
Brock would continue applying pressure towards Windsor in the second set despite the Lancers hanging around on the scoreboard for the first bit of the set.  However, the Badgers continued to flex their muscle of offensive firepower and spread the score halfway through the set and cruise to a 25-16 second set win to go up 2-0 on the Lancers.  Brock would match their second set energy with a sweeping third set win 25-17 to take the match 3-0 over Windsor for a second straight victory over the Lancers.
 
UP NEXT
The Lancers will travel up to Guelph next weekend to take on the Guelph Gryphons on Friday and Saturday at the Guelph Gryphon Athletics Centre.  Friday night's contest is scheduled for first serve at 6:00pm while Saturday is slated for a 4:00pm start time. 
 
Lancer fans can catch the action streaming on oua.tv or follow our official Windsor Lancers X account to keep up with live tweets and in-game updates shared throughout.