Photo by: Jacob Rice
In their final preseason game of the year, the Brock women’s volleyball team looked to cap off an undefeated preseason with a win against the York University Lions. Last year’s provincial champion Badgers came into the match on Friday Oct. 28 6-0, having dropped only four total sets in those games.
The Badgers’ strong team play seemed to pick up right where they left off, jumping out to a quick 8-2 lead in the first set. Though York would scrape back to get as close as 8-6, Brock tightly controlled the rest of the set winning by a convincing 25-16 score.
The second set was a little more back and forth. Brock and York traded points all throughout the set, with the lead changing hands eight times. Brock eventually got a firm grip on the match, scoring the final seven points to give them the set 25-19 and a 2-0 lead in the match.
York came back with a vengeance in the third set however. Scoring eight of the first eleven points, York held a five point lead that quickly evaporated when Brock went on a seven point scoring run that put them up 12-9.
Though York and Brock would trade points at times, York would not hold a lead again and fell 20-25 in the third and final set, giving Brock another 3-0 win and a perfect preseason.
Brock beat York in all the major stat categories but blocks, leading the Lions in points, kills, aces, assists and digs, most by considerable margins.
Though the convincing, full-team win, there were some notable standouts from the contest. Middle Christina Jovetic had a particularly strong outing with seven kills, three blocks and an ace. Setters Lauren Teehan and Sarah Rohr distributed the ball very well, each notching twelve assists. Libero Aleiah Torres also kept the defence in check with ten digs on the night while adding six assists of her own, the third most on the team after Rohr and Teehan.
After seven thorough preseason games, the Badgers already look to be in midseason form. Though they probably won’t need it, their opening two games against the Guelph University Gryphons will likely give them a further chance to work on their game.
Guelph is unlikely to be much of a challenge for the Badgers. The Gryphons have had an uninspiring preseason, going 2-7 including five straight losses in the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees Preseason Classic.
Brock’s Ontario University Athletics (OUA) season opener is in Guelph on Saturday, Nov. 12. Their home opener is the following day, also against Guelph in the Bob Davis Gym. Their full schedule and results can be found on the gobadger.ca page.