It was a commanding Ontario University Athletics (OUA) quarterfinal performance for the Brock Badgers women’s volleyball team.
The No. 4 nationally ranked and top-seeded Badgers gave the Bob Gymnasium crowd plenty to cheer about, delivering a 3-0 sweep (25-22, 25-14, 25-15) over the No. 8 seed Ottawa Gee-Gees on Friday, Feb. 20.
“It’s super important to care of business at home,” said head coach Steve Delaney. “We knew that we were going to have to play steady to beat that team, and we did that.”
Leading the attack for the Badgers was fifth-year outside hitter Emily Foest, who earned a game-high 11.5 points from seven kills, three aces and 1.5 blocks. Third-year outside hitter Daryan Chadwick also reached double-digit points, finishing with 10 from eight kills and two aces.
Both teams posted under .200 hitting percentages in the opening set, with neither side building more than a two-point lead until the latter stages.
After a service error from the Gee-Gees, the Badgers followed with back-to-back kills from Daryan Chadwick and Emily Foest to take a close frame 25-22.
Foest reached a major milestone in the second set, recording the 1,000th point of her illustrious career as the Badgers took an 11-5 lead on the way to a 25-14 win.
“We ask her to make big swings in big moments,” Delaney said. “She stabilizes our serve receive, and as a fifth-year senior, she leads us. Everybody knows the ball is going to her, so she’s in a really tough spot but she performs well when we ask her to do that.”
The Badgers’ strong defence continued to frustrate their opponents, holding the Gee-Gees to six kills and six attacking errors for a .000 hitting percentage in the frame.
In the third, the Gee-Gees pushed back, going to-to-toe with the Badgers throughout the first 20 points before the hosts took control with a 13-10 lead.
Four kills from Foest helped power the next stretch as Brock scored 12 of the next 17 points to close out the match.
The Badgers notched eight aces to two from the Gee-Gee’s and received contributions from serving substitutes Avery Duncan and Brianne Whalen.
A year ago in this same quarterfinal round, the Badgers battled back from a 14-11 deficit in the fifth set against the Nipissing Lakers to earn a comeback win.
“We learned a lot from last season being on the ropes,” Delaney said. “In that fifth set, we put ourselves there by playing sloppy volleyball so we’re trying to take care of the little things and not let them become big things, and we did that today.”
The Badgers now look ahead to the semifinal round where they will host the No. 4 seed Queen’s Gaels on Friday, Feb. 27 at 6 p.m. at Bob Davis Gymnasium.
“We played them twice this year, and they both went five sets,” Delaney said. “They’re better than they were when we played them back at the beginning of the season. We’re going to have tidy up our serve receive and continue with our block defence and have a good serving strategy.”
Tickets will go on sale for students on Sunday, Feb. 22 at 8 a.m. and to the general public on Tuesday, Feb. 24 at 8 a.m. and can be purchased at University Tickets.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login