After winning a hard-fought five set game against McMaster in last Friday’s provincial championship semi-finals here at U of T, Blues volleyball coach Kristine Drakich wanted to see a more attentive effort from her 17 member squad in the finals.

“When we focus on our game, we play really well,” she said. She added that worries over McMaster’s game plan, as well as the raucous, pot and spatula-wielding crowd-oftentimes deafening-may have distracted the team.

Fortunately, the Blues looked more focused and less distracted in Saturday’s finals against Guelph. Looking poised and calm behind a strong defensive game, the women’s Blues volleyball team streaked through a three-set sweep (25-20, 28-26, 25-18) of the Guelph Gryphons to win the Ontario University Association (OUA) championship, capping a 16-1 season. The Blues head to the national championships in Saskatoon this Tuesday. “That’s the most exciting thing this whole year,” said Blues player of the game and right-side striker Anastasia Danilova.

Anchored by Katie Bickerton’s vocal on-court leadership and some misplayed serve returns by Guelph, the Blues controlled the first set after going ahead 5-4. A late set rally winner by Guelph cut the lead to 23-19, but was not enough of a momentum shifter, as the Blues efficiently finished the set 25-20.

“I think we played better last night against Queen’s,” said Gryphons head coach Linda Melnick. “But I don’t think we were as challenged as today.”

The three set victory belies the struggle along the way, namely a serious challenge to the Blues’ lead in a second set game-breaker. After see-sawing in the middle, Guelph pushed to an 22-18 lead. But a Blues timeout and a long, hard-fought rally winner to make it 22-19 signaled a comeback, prompting fans to their feet. Facing elimination at 24-22, three huge strikes by Danilova thrust the Blues to 25-24. After another scare at 25-26, some great shot blocking by Laura Powers pushed the Blues to a 28-26 set victory.

“That was the big difference,” said Drakich. “Lose that one and we could go either way.”

Danilova’s eleventh hour heroics were just some of many spectacular moments as she finished with 15 kills and 14 digs.

“She’s definitely one of the players that did us in,” said Guelph player of the game Lisa Cosentino of the shy St. Petersburg native. “We call her the ‘Russian Sensation.’ But it takes a team to win, and they did that.”

“U of T was at their best, as they knew they had to be,” said Melnick.

A dispirited Guelph squad could not counter-attack in the final set, going down 20-8 early and eventually losing 25-18.

In assessing the loss, Melnick saw the outcome more as a result of the Blues doing things right than the Gryphons doing things wrong. “Two teams fought as hard as they could. It wasn’t that we all of a sudden played poorly.”

“We came together really well as a team,” said Bickerton. “Our hitters did really well…In terms of points, it was pretty spread out and that’s a sign of a pretty good team.”

“We played patient. We served well,” said Drakich. “It was a matter of staying focused.”