Friday January 17 @ George Brown
The Women's volleyball team started off their Toronto road trip with a victory over the 5-8 George Brown Huskies in a highly contested 5-set match. The Wolves got off to a slow start, dropping the 1st set 25-20. They began to find their footing in the 2nd set, going point for point with the Huskies until Carys Tenthorey gave the Wolves the 26-24 set win with one of her 14 kills of the match. The Wolves carried that momentum into the 3rd set, and got out to a commanding 19-9 lead thanks to 2 lengthy service runs by Cambria Alford, and Isabella Tourangeau. The Wolves only surrendered one more point, and took the set 25-10.
The 4th set saw the teams go point for point once again until the Huskies put up a strong net-front presence with timely blocks and kills to take a 20-16 lead. Ultimately, the Huskies wouldn't look back, and took the set 25-21 to force a 5th set. The Wolves were able to close out the match with a 15-8 set win, thanks to some amazing defensive plays, and strong service pressure. 3rd year setter Gabbie Paquette kept the George Brown blockers on their toes all night as she finished the match assisting on 44 of the team's 46 kills. Grace Pate and Tenthorey led the way offensively with 14 kills each, while Alford had a solid performance coming off the bench in relief, and finished with 10 kills, and 2 aces.
Saturday January 18 @ Centennial
It was a quick turn around for the Wolves as they took on the 8-5 Centennial Colts on Saturday. Even though the Wolves were able to sweep the Colts in their first meeting of the season, they would be in tough match as the Colts featured two of the top five kills leaders in the OCAA. The two teams alternated set wins, and the Wolves once again found themselves going to a 5th set. In the end, the Wolves ran out of gas and lost the 5th set 15-11.
It was a gutsy performance by the Wolves, who were having difficulties generating offense for most of the match. They were able to stay in the game due to their dominant play at the net and service line as the team collected 29 blocks and 17 aces. Grace Pate tallied 7 kills, 7 aces, and 4 blocks to lead the Wolves with 18 points, while 2nd year middle blocker Jill Dawson had an incredible performance putting up a career high in blocks with 10, aces with 7 and points with 17.
Looking Ahead
The Wolves are now 10-4 and sit in 3rd place in the OCAA East Division. They will play their final regular season home games of the year this weekend as they face the undefeated Seneca Sting on Friday January 24th, followed by the Georgian Grizzlies on Saturday January 25th.