A trio of graduating Varsity Blues women’s volleyball players, hoping to clinch a playoff home game in the team’s regular season home finale, took charge Sunday afternoon against Ottawa, leading U of T to a routine victory.

Had the Blues lost, they would have needed a win in their last regular season game on the road against undefeated Laurier to clinch a home game in the quarter-finals, but they saved themselves the trouble of such a challenge. The 3-0 (25-16, 25-21, 25-18) win gives U of T an 11-5 record with one match to play, one win ahead of Ryerson and Queen’s (10-6), both of whom the Blues hold the tiebreaker advantage against, while the Gee Gees slipped to 8-8 and out of playoff contention. The Rams visit the Golden Gaels Saturday night, with the winner getting third place and a date at the U of T Sports Gym to open the playoffs.

Against Ottawa, the Blues took advantage of an inconsistent opponent, winning the opening game of the match with ease to set the tone for the rest of the contest.

Blues coach Kristine Drakich said the Gee Gees’ erratic play was characteristic of the team.

“Ottawa is a team that plays very, very well and then sort of gets plagued with a few unforced errors,” said Drakich, who added that the Gee Gees’ desperate playoff position might have preyed on their minds.

“They may have felt a bit of pressure, because it was a must-win game for them.”

The Blues got big efforts from their graduating trio of Carrie Schram, Sadie Stewart and Sara Pothaar, who played inspired matches in their last regular season home date.

Schram was the runaway leader on U of T in kills with 16, plus eight digs, while Stewart had one of her most explosive outings of the season with eight kills and tied for second on the team with six rallies.

Pothaar, who completes a five-year career as a Blue this season, led the team in rallies with 11, was second in kills with nine and added nine digs in a characteristically strong all-round effort.

“We played really consistent, whereas Ottawa goes up and down a lot,” said Pothaar, who feels the team is peaking at just right time. “It’s really important that everything’s coming together right at the end, when it counts… I think this team’s really good at knowing when to prepare us to peak.”

In spite of a very tight and tense playoff race, Drakich said that as the stretch run approached, the Blues felt good about controlling their own destiny.

“We knew that if we took care of what we have control over, which is winning all the rest of our matches from here on in, we could clinch second place and host a quarter-final and that’s what we wanted to do.”

U of T managed to complete that objective Sunday and now they can focus on a strong playoff run as they look to repeat as OUA champions and return to the CIS championships, where they recorded a school best fourth place finish last season.