It was like deja vu all over again. A high-ranked women’s team was facing an opponent that most considered to be inferior, just like in the women’s hockey gold medal game in Torino. This time, however, the result was quite the opposite.
Canada rolled over the Swedes at the Olympics last week, but the women’s volleyball team could not beat a Windsor Lancers team that barely made it into the post-season in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) championship game. As a result, Windsor took home gold medals and have a trip to the national finals booked, while the Blues settled for silver and an early offseason.
“No one was happy with silver. We wanted gold,” said Kristine Drakich, the Blues head coach.
The Blues were favoured to win because the finished atop their division with a 17-2 record, while the Lancers could only muster 12 wins in the regular season. Toronto had also beaten Windsor when the teams played on November 13, the only regular-season meeting between the squads this year.
But the Blues were not taking Windsor lightly, as they had to knock off Western-the top team in the OUA-in the quarterfinals to make it to the gold-medal game.
“I expected that Windsor was going to be very strong and that they had the ability to win the OUA title, as did any of the top 6 teams in the OUA,” said Drakich. “They had a rough first half, but played extremely well in the second half of the season and during the playoffs.”
“They have a fairly veteran team. Six of seven of their starters have been the nucleus of that team for that past three years. Their strong play was not a surprise” continued Drakich.
The Lancers defeated the favoured Blues in straight sets. The first two sets were so similar that it almost felt like one was watching the same thing twice, further adding to the feeling of deja vu.
“Windsor served very tough and they executed well and played aggressive from start to finish. We didn’t,” commented Drakich. “Each game was very close and each point was very hard-fought, but in the end we could not sustain the level of focus needed on our side of the net.”
The scores for the match (26-24,26-24, 25-23) confirm the coach’s point about the closeness of the contest, and it was evident to any observer that Toronto looked very disorganized and frustrated at times. Watching Blues star Asya Danilova kick the ball in frustration after a miscue near the end of the game clearly illustrates the point.
Bethany Petkoff and Caitlin Morrissey led the Lancer attack, scoring ten and 13 points, respectively. Petkoff was named player-of-the-game for Windsor.
Heather Bansley was named player-of-the game for Toronto. She managed six points and 11 incredible digs in the contest, keeping the Blues close in each set.
