The Brock Badgers women’s volleyball team hosted the Queen’s Gales on Feb. 27 at the Bob Davis Gymnasium in a rematch of last year’s semi-final. The Gales were the underdogs coming into the contest, having lost both of their regular-season games to the Badgers in October (3-2 and 3-2).
Both teams were coming off dominant quarter-final games, especially Brock, who demolished Ottawa en route to a sweep. Queen’s was able to sweep away the University of Guelph in a similar fashion on the heels of their second semi-final appearance in a row.
The stage was set. The Badger crowd was as rowdy as ever, and the Gales community made its presence known. The first half of the opening set was a struggle for the home team, as Queen’s was taking full advantage of Brock’s silly mistakes.
It wasn’t until the score was 7-6 for Queen’s that Brock would score six out of the next seven points, forcing a timeout from the visiting side.
Setter Mackenna Knox came out of the gate hot with some very aggressive plays. The third year had a kill called back that was initially ruled Badger point, but just seconds later, collected a huge solo block, much to the pleasure of Head Coach Steve Delaney on the sideline.
In the middle portion of the set, Brock went on a 13-3 run that was highlighted by some great defensive plays. Brock had shaken any rust off and was moving like a well-oiled machine. While the score was nothing near a blowout, Brock had Queen’s in the palm of their hand.
The Gales had no answer to Brock, as they were making play after play to halt any sort of momentum their opponents tried to gain. After an Emma Baruchelli block, the Badgers were able to close out the set, taking it by a score of 25-21.
Right side Madison Tuck got the second set started with a beautiful tip to the back corner, following a stellar rally that saw Eve Entwistle make one of the best digs of the match. Daryan Chadwick then had her fifth kill of the game and Charlotte Ross notched one of her own after getting blocked on the play before.
The middle portion of the set saw a lot of back and forth action, highlighted by a massive solo block from Emma Baruchelli that got the home crowd out of their seats. Queen’s wasn’t going out without a fight as they countered some of Brock’s offence with some punches of their own. The Gales went on a mini run to take a small lead nearing the end of the set. It was Tuck who would unleash a barrage of kills to stop the Gales in their tracks. The Georgetown native scored four points in a row, forcing a timeout from Queen’s.
Shortly following that, Chadwick delivered another kill to help the Badgers regain the lead. Baruchelli wanted to make sure Queen’s had no chance of making a comeback after she collected two huge blocks in a row to make it 21-17 for Brock.
Ultimately, it would be Chadwick again who put the nail in the coffin with a tool to give her team a comfortable 2-0 lead heading into the third set.
Brock was in full control right from the start of the third set, dominating around the net. Ross was red hot, accumulating block after block while also adding more kills to her impressive evening. The game seemed all but over midway through the set, until Queen’s had other ideas.
When Brock took a 19-14 lead, a switch flipped on the Queen’s side. From that point, the Badgers completely fell apart and allowed Queen’s to rally back down six points. After Brock hit 19 points, they only scored two more points for the rest of the set. The Bob Davis Gymnasium was shocked after Queen’s won the set 25-21 after it looked like they were dead in the water.
The fourth set saw Queen’s carry their momentum into a series of huge plays, giving the team an early 6-3 lead. All of what the Gales were doing wrong in the first two and a half sets was fixed just like that. Brock needed a run, and fast.
With the game slowly slipping away from them midway through the set, Brock found its saviours in Foest and Ross, who both came up with two huge kills, cutting the lead to three. The Badgers trialed 21-19, before Tuck came up with two huge aces with a point in between to give Brock a 22-21 lead.
Every fan in attendance was watching anxiously to see if the game would go to a season-deciding fifth set. Luckily for the home crowd, the Badgers were able to close it out following a Ross kill and some Queen’s errors to take the game and move on to their fifth Quigley Cup appearance in a row.
Standouts for Brock included Tuck, who led the team with 11 blocks, just ahead of teammates Foest and Chadwick, who each tallied 10. Tuck single-handedly brought Brock back into the game with some outrageous hitting displays down the stretch. She also led the team in aces with three.
Emma Baruchelli was an absolute monster around the net, racking up a game-high seven blocks. The Trento, Italy native was on a mission against Queen’s to make it back to the OUA final once again.
Finally, Knox had her usual standout performance in the playoffs, dealing 33 assists and even contributing a few kills along the way.
The Badgers will host the McMaster Marauders on Friday, March 5, at 6 p.m. in a rematch from last year’s final. It’s all about redemption for this Brock team. There’s no doubt Coach Delaney will have his players ready for what could be their most important game in years.