The first two games of Saturday’s OUA women’s volleyball quarterfinal were dominated by the Varsity Blues, as was the last game, but in between came a valiant comeback by visiting Queen’s that made for a dramatic playoff showdown at the Sports Gym.
U of T survived the spirited rally by a Golden Gaels team playing in its first playoff game in four seasons, and the perennially championship contending Blues managed to move on to the OUA semifinals with a 3-2 (25-11, 25-15, 23-25, 23-25, 15-7) victory.
While Queen’s had an identical 11-6 record to the Blues in the regular season, the competition will get much stiffer this Saturday when U of T faces Laurier (Game of the Week). The Hawks have a perfect 18-0 regular season record. The winner earns a berth in the CIS championships.
The Blues will have home court advantage for the Final Four after cross-town rival York, who led the East with a 15-2 record this year, lost to Ryerson in the other East division quarterfinal. For the Yeowomen it was the second straight season in which they finished first in the division, only to lose their opening playoff match.
U of T looked like they were in cruise control against Queen’s, as they nearly ran the Gaels off the court before the visitors knew what hit them in the early stages of Saturday’s match. The Blues jumped out to a lightning quick 11-2 lead in the opening game and an 8-2 lead in game two en route to an easy 2-0 lead in the match, and the third game looked destined to take a similar path as U of T darted ahead 6-2 to open the stanza.
However, a plucky Gaels squad finally got some much-needed momentum as a foundation to build upon in game three as they battled back to win a nip and tuck struggle, 25-23. Game four was a similar story with a suddenly confident Queen’s side seeming to win most of the clutch points on their way to another narrow victory to even the match.
“They’re a great team and I think they played a little nervous the first couple of (games) and then played the way they could,” said second team OUA all-star Carrie Schram of the Blues. “It worked out that they came on strong as we maybe got a little relaxed.”
The fifth and decisive game, however, was back to business as usual for U of T, who regained their poise and used a 7-0 run to pull away and easily take the final game 15-7.
Sadie Stewart elevated her play down the stretch with three kills and three blocks in the fifth to cap an impressive week in which she also won the OUA East Award of Merit. She said home court advantage helped against Queen’s and should continue to be a positive this coming weekend.
“Because it’s familiar. This is where we practice every day, this is where we play all our home games,” said Stewart, which she believes adds a comfort level for the team. “It’s just that you own the gym already when you come into it. This is our court, we just need to take control.”
Saturday’s quarterfinal was very much a case of one team dominating statistically, but still having to scratch and claw for the win. U of T had more rallies than the Gaels, 70-56, out-blocked Queen’s 23-17, and probably most importantly, made only 15 errors in the match while the inconsistent visitors made a stunning 56.
U of T also had an enormous +28 edge in points won, as it took the Blues 111 points to beat an opponent that only managed 83 points. In fact, in the opening two games of the match combined, the Gaels scored a mere 26 points, barely enough to win just one of the first two frames. Queen’s never led by more than four points in any game in the match, while the Blues led by as many as 14 points, and owned several double-digit leads.
As Blues coach Kristine Drakich described it, when U of T played well the Gaels were no match for them, while when Queen’s played its best in the contest they were just good enough to win the games.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be an easy (match), but we knew it really depended on how we executed and what we did,” said Drakich. “In the first two and the fifth we controlled the ball, really, when we had it. In the third and fourth we got a little shaky.”
