The Windsor Lancer women's volleyball team wrapped up their final stretch of the 2023-24 on the road in Toronto over the weekend taking on the Toronto Varsity Blues in a pair of road matches at the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport in downtown Toronto.
The Varsity Blues defeated the blue and gold on Friday night 3-1 (27-25, 22-25, 17-25, and 20-25) while following up with upsetting five-set comeback victory over Windsor again on Saturday afternoon with a 3-2 (25-19, 25-15, 35-37, 20-25, and 11-15) final result.
FRIDAY GAME STATS
Yaila Sealy had 11 kills in the loss leading the way for the Lancers in her hometown of Toronto.
Aliah Admans and
Jordyn Brearley each contributed with 7 kills of their own in the shortfall effort. Admans also put up a monster defensive effort with a whopping 26 digs in the loss.
Lia DeGirolamo had a pair of service aces for Windsor as well in her final weekend of dawning the blue and gold before the graduating senior departs to pursue her future endeavours next season.
Also graduating senior and Lancer setter
Nicole Woelk dished out 29 assists in the four-set loss to Toronto.
The Varsity Blues were led by Olivia Zhu would propel her team to victory over the Lancers with her 16 kills on the night.
HOW IT HAPPENED ON FRIDAY
The opening set of Friday night's contest started quite competitively with both sides trading points throughout the early and middle stages of the set before the Lancers were able to find their groove late in the set to close out the first set on top 25-17 and take a 1-0 advantage in the match.
The second set saw the Varsity Blues get reorientated in their home gym looking more in control early in the set by a one-to-two point spread consistently throughout.
Approaching the midway mark of the set Toronto would continue to hold the Lancers back by either three, two, or one point and not forfeit a lead to the ambitious visitors from Windsor.
With their relentlessness, the Varsity Blues evened up the match at one set apiece finishing the second set ahead 25-22.
The third set was opened with a 4-0 Toronto lead before Windsor began to accumulate points on the scoreboard. The Varsity Blues would then explode offensively taking advantage of the Lancers being on their heels throughout the set. The navy blue would end the set 25-17 to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
The fourth set would be the last set of the match with Toronto finding a way to stave off a potential fifth set late in the fourth set to overcome and respond to the Windsor pressure which was consistent throughout. Despite a deadlock at 17-17, Toronto would round out the fourth set 25-20 and take the match 3-1 on home court before meeting with the Lancers again on Saturday.
SATURDAY GAME STATS
Yaila Sealy had 25 kills, 14 digs, and 3 service aces in her final outing as a Windsor Lancer before the graduating senior moves on next season.
Aliah Admans also had a great second outing on the road with her 13 kill offensive performance and 29 dig defensive effort in the heartbreaking five set loss to the Varsity Blues.
At the net
Jordyn Brearley put up a spectacular 8 block performance to help the blue and gold stay strong above the tape.
Meanwhile in her final match dawning the blue and gold,
Nicole Woelk set up her teammates for success throughout the contest and earned 52 assists, 2 service aces and 12 digs in her last dance as a Lancer.
Toronto was led by Julia Murmann who helped lead her team back into the game to spoil a potential road victory closeout for the blue and gold with her 29-kill performance to overtake the Lancers while in Varsity Blues territory.
HOW IT HAPPENED ON SATURDAY
Toronto opened the scoring of the first set with a 3-0 lead before Windsor began to battle back and begin to earn points of their own to contest the Blues.
The teams engaged in a back-and-forth affair that spanned throughout the midway mark of the first set before Windsor elevated their play late in the first to close out 25-19 and lead the match 1-0.
In the second set, the Varsity Blues would open up an 8-2 lead early before it evaporated with the countered efforts of the blue and gold resiliently finding a way to generate some new momentum and create a six-point lead of their own eventually at 18-12 which then later helped them spark enough energy down the stretch to take it 25-15 and nab a 2-0 lead in the match.
Eyeing a clean sweep in the third set, the Lancer ladies would be in for the fight of their lives against the determined Varsity Blues who were not ready to go down in three to the visitors.
Things would get wild late in the set where a tilt that became a tug-a-war for two became the turning point of the match where neither team was able to find a two point lead from Windsor leading 15-13 not until Toronto closed out with a rare and resilient 37-35 third set win over the Lancers to make it a 2-1 game and allow the Varsity Blues to extend the match to a fourth set.
Fresh off a relentless effort the rejuvenated Varsity Blues came alive even more in the fourth set finding a newfound will to win following the remarkable extra point set previously. Toronto would push the Lancers to a fifth set upon winning the fourth set 25-20 to make it a fight to fifteen with the 2-2 stalemate in the match.
Once again with Toronto thriving off their home crowd who came to life after their dogfight win in the third set and fabulous fourth set, the fifth set saw them maintain the edge throughout but not with Windsor going away easy. However, in the end, the Blues would break the Lancers hearts with the fifth set coming to an end in favour of Toronto 15-11 to allow Toronto to overcome the adversity and battle back to a 3-2 match victory over Windsor to end their season on a losing note in the 416.
With the losses, the Lancers end their regular season campaign with a 6-14 record overall.
UP NEXT
This concludes the 2023-24 OUA regular season for the blue and gold.
The Windsor Lancer women's volleyball team would like to thank their fans and members of the Lancer family for their continuous support over the course of the season and are already looking forward to taking to the court again for the 2024-25 season next fall!
