Kajan Thiruthanikasalam (Sports Writer, Colts Athletics)
SCARBOROUGH, ONT.- The Centennial Colts women's volleyball team looked to bounce back after a gut wrenching five set defeat against the top seeded Loyalist Lancers in their last game. They answered the challenge.
Centennial easily dispatched the winless La Cite Coyotes (0-5) in three sets (25-7, 25-19, 25-16) at the Athletic and Wellness Centre and improved their record to 2-2 on the season.
The serve was one of the main standouts in this game as Centennial had 10 service aces. The Colts also dominated in kills (31-15) and assists (29-14).
Middle hitter Emily Joe led three Colts in double figures with 11 points on a game high 11 kills while outside hitters Mari Pikkov and Elizabeth Chow had 10 points each. Setter Nadjema Soro had a game high 25 assists, libero Kaitlyn Hancock had a game high eight digs, and Pikkov and outside hitter Lena Mak each had a game high three service aces.
The Colts started the game in businessmanlike fashion as they went on a 19-5 run to begin the first set, highlighted by a lengthy rally in which outside hitter Lizzie Bowers and Hancock made consecutive digs to keep the drive alive and eventually lead to a Colts point. Pikkov then made a kill, forcing a Coyotes timeout.
Centennial capped off the set with a service ace from Mak as they took the first set by a score of 25-7.
Neither side gave in during the early stages of the second set as the score was tied at 11. Another kill by Pikkov and another service ace from Mak, however, sparked the Colts to take the lead for good. Pikkov continued to leave her mark on the game, hitting consecutive service aces to extend Centennial's lead to 16-12.
It was 18-15 in the second set for the Colts when they pulled off five straight points, highlighted by a surprising kill from Hancock, a service ace from Soro, and a block from Pikkov. La Cite scored three in a row to trim the Colts' lead to 5 (24-19) but a service error ended the second set in favour of Centennial, 25-19.
The Colts would then waste no time taking control of the third set, scoring the first four points before the Coyotes responded with two. Centennial pushed the lead to 9-4 and then went on a 4-0 run, capped off by a kill from Chow, forcing another Coyotes timeout.
Chow had two straight kills midway through the set to push the Colts' lead at double figures to 16-6. La Cite cut the lead to seven (19-12) but that was as close as they can get as the Colts scored three consecutive points, capped off by another service ace from Pikkov and a kill from Joe.
Chow added another kill, her fifth of the set, to close the match as the Colts took the third set, 25-16.
Centennial looks to add another win to their season as they continue their home stand tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 pm but they would have to play top notch volleyball in order to beat the unbeaten Algonquin Thunder (5-0).