This past weekend, Brock women’s volleyball took the long road to Kingston to play the Queen’s University Gaels in a rematch of last year’s Provincial Championship.
The Badgers beat Queen’s handily during last year’s regular season, winning in straight sets in their two meetings, but had a more difficult go in the Quigley Cup where they won despite dropping two sets.
On Nov. 18th, the first of two matches got underway in much the same fashion as last year’s regular season matchups.
In set one, after a 5-5 tie game devolved into a 12-6 advantage to the Badgers, the set was not very interesting. Emily Foest and Sadie Dick punched in the final four points of the set for kills, taking it 25-16.
Set two was marginally more exciting. This time around, Queen’s was decent enough to stretch the score to 13-13 before having their brakes blown off. The Gaels got a few token points down the stretch, but all the same the Badgers won set two by a convincing 25-19.
Unfortunately for the Gaels or any viewer hoping for an ounce of intrigue, Queen’s was again trounced in set three. Brock first turned a 10-10 tie into a 14-10 lead. They then stretched that lead into an even more impressive 20-13 lead. From there, there was nothing for the Gaels to do except roll over and accept a 25-17 set loss and a straight-set defeat.
Perhaps feeling the sting of the dispiriting loss, Queen’s returned with a vengeance in game two, looking much more the part of a Provincial finalist.
Brock took a significant lead early, going up 10-5 in set one, and though it seemed that they would soon squander it with the Gaels brining it as close as 10-8, the Badgers managed to hold on, though not without difficulty.
Queen’s managed to pull the score within one or two several times down the stretch, including a close call when they brought it within one, down only 19-18. The Gaels battled hard, but the Badgers scored 6 of the final nine points to take set one.
Set two, they were not so lucky.
Killing the Badgers at the net, the Gaels jumped out to a sizeable 12-2 lead. Brock clawed back to make it much more respectable, but still fell 25-20.
In set three it was Brock’s turn to grab a lead and run with it. Capitalizing on the Gaels’ most error-prone set, the Badgers were able to establish a five-point lead and maintain or grow that margin throughout the set, eventually winning 25-17.
Now up 2-1, this was a great chance for the Badgers to put Queen’s away, but the Gaels completely flipped the game on its head, starting in the fourth set.
Though the score stayed close, the Gaels held a definite advantage throughout set three. It was only once they’d eclipsed the 20-point barrier that Queen’s really started to pull away, scoring seven of the final nine points to take it 25-18, forcing a playoff set. Set four was the worst of Brock’s weekend, recording only seven kills to 10 errors. Queen’s, on the other hand, had one of their most efficient, with 13 kills to three errors.
The Gaels did their best to put the game away early, running up the score to 4-10, but the Badgers battled hard and were able to bring it back to 11-12. That was unfortunately the closest they would get: Queen’s secured the final three points, winning the set 11-15, and the match 2-3.
The Badgers play their last two games before the winter break at home, facing Lakehead University on Dec. 1st and 2nd. For more information, please visit gobadger.ca.
