The women’s volleyball team was forced to play a fifth set in both games during last weekend’s road trip, returning home with a win and a loss.
The team led two sets to one against the Guelph Gryphons and the Brock Badgers. The Gryphons completed the comeback to win 15-25, 25-21, 25-18, 19-25, 13-15 on Friday night, but Queen’s held on to beat the Badgers 21-25, 25-19, 25-21, 18-25, 15-13
on Saturday.
Middle Katie Neville and outside hitter Becky Billings led the Gaels against Brock with 15 points each. Neville said the team didn’t want to return to Kingston with a pair of five-set losses.
“Everyone was just really determined not to lose another fifth set,” she said. “We learned a lot from the [Guelph] game to fight and push until the very end.”
Head coach Joely
Christian-Macfarlane said her team was inconsistent over the weekend.
“In both matches, we had the opportunity to win in four [sets],” she said. “We committed errors far too often in those situations to finish the match out.”
Christian-Macfarlane and the team will look to avoid momentum swings in their next games.
“It’s about learning to dominate,” Christian-Macfarlane said. “It’s about learning to not let [the opponent] back in.”
Queen’s now begins a five-game home stand that will have a large impact on their ability to make
the playoffs.
“It’s probably the first year I’ve coached that … it’s not one or two teams that you have to beat,” she said. “But instead … there’s more balance across the board.”
The Gaels host the Toronto Varsity Blues tonight and the McMaster Marauders on Saturday at the ARC. Both games start at 6 p.m.