Women’s volleyball teams from across the country joined the Blues for a weekend chock full of volleyball on Jan. 2-4, at U of T’s 14th annual National Invitational Tournament (NIT).
Coming off a month-long break for the holidays, the Blues played well enough to edge out York, Laurier, and Montreal to secure a spot in the finals of the exhibition tournament. But it was the Winnipeg Wesmen who eventually took home the gold medal.
The action began early on Friday, with Winnipeg beating both the York University Lions and the Université de Montreal Carabins. Meanwhile, Toronto took care of the Laurier Golden Hawks and the Carabins.
The second day began with Winnipeg getting past Laurier to hold on to their winning streak. The Blues also played Winnipeg, and though U of T started off strong by winning the first set, 25-23, Winnipeg rebounded by taking the lead in the second and keeping it, to win the set handily, 10-25. Most of the third set went in favour of the Wesmen, but the Blues rallied from 18-24 to keep the game alive. With nail-biting tension mounting in the stands, both teams traded set points until Winnipeg finally wrapped it up, with a score of 34-32. The Wesmen took the fourth set 25-17 for the win.
After Laurier defeated Montreal in four sets to put them in the third place game, the Blues played York to duke out the final berth in Sunday’s championship game. The Blues dominated the Lions and led in points through three straight sets, 25-14, 25-19, 25-23.
In Sunday’s championship game, Toronto unfortunately came up short again against Winnipeg. The Wesmen won in three sets, 25-21, 25-19, 25-22, greatly helped by their no. 7, Jocelyne Roy’s lethal spikes. The Blues settled for second on their home turf, and third place honours went to York. The Lions swept Laurier in the bronze medal game, 3-0. Tournament all-stars were the Wesmen’s no. 3, Andrea Charbonneau, and no. 7, Roy; the Lion’s no. 5, Cara Patterson, and no. 8, Gilah McHugh; the Blues’ no. 6, Katie Bickerton, and no. 15, Carrie Schram. The Wesmen’s no. 13, Aynsley Laluk, was named tournament MVP.
Speaking after the Blues first loss to Winnipeg, Coach Drakich said she had mixed feelings on her players’ performance in that game, but added, “I think we showed a lot of character to come back…in the third set after losing 25-10.”
Anastasia Danilova, no. 17, who’s string of points late in the third set of the finals helped keep hope for a Toronto win alive, says she felt the Blues showed “good teamwork,” and that the tournament had been “a very good start for the second half of the season. Our last game was a month ago and it was good to come back after the break.”
On what lessons could be taken from the losses to Winnipeg, Danilova commented on some inconsistency in the team’s play. “We had some ups and downs…[we need to work on] staying focused and having control the whole time.”
