Women’s volleyball head coach Joely Christian-Macfarlane reflects positively on her team’s first semester of play.

“We started slow and had a couple of losses early,” Christian-Macfarlane said. “We finished stronger and it would be nice to carry that momentum into the second half.”

A 3-0 sweep of the RMC Paladins last Saturday gave the Gaels their fifth straight win and a record of 7-2. They’re tied for third place in the OUA halfway through the regular season.

With a successful first half of the season under their belt, the Gaels still have a ways to reach the OUA banner they won last season.

The team lost in straight sets to the York Lions in their season opener and battled to a five-set defeat against the Ryerson Rams on Nov. 3.

Next semester presents the Gaels with plenty of challenges, as they face off against both Ryerson and York a second time, as well as the second-place Ottawa Gee-Gees.

Christian-Macfarlane said that the team needs to improve on communication going forward.

“[Against RMC] our communication broke down quite a bit,” she said. “They were scoring points on things that we could normally pick up.”

Captain Katie Neville led the way with nine kills, three aces and three block-assists to receive the Gaels’ player of the game honours.

Christian-Macfarlane stressed the importance of maintaining a consistent effort throughout an entire game.

“I think when it comes to finishing a match, you need to keep the focus,” she said. “The other team is fighting for their life and you need to up the intensity.”