Taking advantage of an eighth-place Western Mustangs, the Badgers dominated in their return to Bob Davis Gymnasium, handing Western two straight three-set victories. The victories set the Badgers on a ten-game win streak and launched them to second in all of U Sports.
Game 1, Jan. 26th: W 3-0 (25-11, 25-15, 25-17)
Right away, Western fell behind 11-1 against a dialled-in Badgers side, setting the stage for an unceremonious Friday evening rout.
Despite pulling four more points out of their back pocket to make the score a slightly less depressing 13-5, Western still crumbled under the weight of Brock’s relentless attack, falling behind again 19-5. Western was able to chip in six more points by the end of the set, but with the Badgers already effectively over the hump, they didn’t concern themselves much over this, claiming an easy 25-11 set win.
The Mustangs were better able to keep stride with the Badgers in set two, getting as close as 6-5 in the early goings. Brock, unfazed, decided to go on a 14-7 run to quash much of Western’s remaining life in the set. Now up 20-12, Brock did not have much trouble securing set two, winning 25-15.
Set three was where the Mustangs finally gave Brock some trouble.
The Badgers jumped out 4-0 and parlayed that into a sizeable 11-5 lead. However, a 6-3 run by Western made things interesting as they nearly tied the game, down only 13-11 and managed to keep pace for a time, being outscored only 6-5.
However, perhaps remembering last week’s game against Windsor where, up 2-0, the Badgers let the Lancers back into the game only to scrape out a tight win in the playoff set, Brock was having none of Western’s comeback effort. Brock scored six of the remaining seven points in the set, winning 25-17 and the match 3-0 with the Mustangs never once having held a lead.
Game 2, Jan. 27th: W 3-0 (25-17, 25-14, 25-14)
Set one of game two began in exactly the same fashion as set three of the previous night’s match, with Brock creating an immediate 7-0 run.
Again, Western was able to get within striking distance, clawing out an 11-8 run to reach a 15-11 deficit though, once again, striking distance was as close as they’d get. Brock capped off the set with 10-9 run, winning 25-17.
Showing significantly more resolve in their second game of the weekend, the Mustangs played themselves into a very tight second set, at least for a while.
The Badgers and Mustangs traded blows early with Western matching Brock’s one-point leads by tying the game at one, two, three and four points. Once Brock went up 5-4 however, it spelled game-over for Western.
The Badgers pounced on their first sign of weakness, grabbing an 11-5 lead. Western fought to get back in the game and managed to whittle down Brock’s lead to a slim 13-10, but Brock again slammed the Mustangs with a scoring run, this time a more dominant 10-2 one. The Badgers allowed Western to scrape out a measly two points before winning set two 25-14.
After five dispiriting sets over two days, the Mustangs seemed to lack any fighting spirit in their sixth and final set of the weekend.
Brock slapped Western with a 14-4 run to start the set that the Mustangs never recovered from. Scoring five of their 14 points only after Brock was 75 per cent of the way to the set victory, Brock casually served Western a 25-14 loss and back-to-back 3-0 straight-set losses in dominant fashion.
Emily Foest did a lot of the heavy lifting in game two, leading the game in kills (11) and aces (five) while also putting in work on the defensive end with seven digs.
The win puts the Badgers at 15-1 on the season, trailing only UBC in the U Sports power rankings. With UBC also taking a loss to third-ranked University of Manitoba on Jan. 20th, the Badgers’ breath is hot on the Thunderbirds’ necks.
With only four games remaining before the OUA playoffs, the Badgers will play in their last two away games on Feb. 2nd and 3rd against McMaster University, the third-ranked team in the OUA who have lost two straight. For Brock’s full schedule and results, visit gobadgers.ca.
