The Gee-Gees women's volleyball team played the Sherbrooke Vert et Or in the 11 a.m. matchup-the two teams had already played each other earlier this pre-season when they met in Montréal for an exhibition tournament. In their previous meeting, Sherbrooke took the first two sets before the Gee-Gees earned a comeback victory by winning the final three sets of the match. Coincidentally, this is exactly what happened again on Friday, as the Vert et Or easily took the first two sets of the match, 25-17 and 25-18, before the Gee-Gees rallied to win the final three sets 25-18, 25-14, and 15-9. Third-year LS/RS Karina Krueger Schwanke and Myriam English led the way on offence, while the Gee-Gees also received solid blocking efforts from many of their players in the final three sets.
"Sherbrooke came out flying, at full speed this morning, and we were caught a little bit off guard in terms of their speed. But we battled the right way, something turned our way in the third set and we weren't really threatened after that. I thought we were pretty solid," said Gee-Gees head coach Lionel Woods.
In the other morning game, the Guelph Gryphons beat the Waterloo Warriors in straight sets, 25-18, 25-22, 25-23. The Gryphons made the OUA playoffs as the seventh-seeded team last season, while Waterloo just missed out on the post-season by finishing 10th.
The two afternoon matches resulted in two thrilling five-set finishes with McGill prevailing over Waterloo 25-23, 21-25, 16-25, 25-21, 15-11 and McMaster beating Sherbrooke 25-19, 20-25, 25-20, 19-25, 15-13. This meant that McMaster and Ottawa would fight for first place in the Garnet pool, while McGill and Guelph would battle for first in the Grey pool, in the two evening matches.
In the showdown for first place, it was the Gee-Gees who struck first as uOttawa won the first set in dominant fashion, 25-11. Ottawa led 20-5 behind the cohesive play of their six starters, before McMaster managed to finish with a slightly more respectable scoreline. The Gee-Gees' strong play continued into the second set as Ottawa took a 15-6 advantage to force the Marauders into calling a timeout.
McMaster clawed back within five points, due to unforced errors by uOttawa, before the Gee-Gees ended up with the 25-18 win. And while the third set was more evenly contested than the first two, the Gee-Gees finished the sweep with a 29-27 victory.
"Serving and blocking is our strength, that's no secret and I thought we showed that in set one and two. And at the same time, we didn't fall asleep when we were up by a lot of points and that was nice," said Woods.
Ottawa will now play McGill at 11 a.m. tomorrow, and have also qualified for a semifinal game scheduled to take place at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow.
2012 Gee-Gees Pre-season Classic round robin standings
GARNET POOL
1. University of Ottawa (2-0)
2. McMaster University (1-1)
3. Université de Sherbrooke (0-2)
GREY POOL
1. McGill University (2-0)
2. University of Guelph (1-1)
3. University of Waterloo (0-2)
Gee-Gees box scores
1 2 3 4 5 FINAL
Sherbrooke 25 25 18 14 9 2
Gee-Gees 17 18 25 25 15 3
1 2 3 FINAL
McMaster 11 18 27 0
Gee-Gees 25 25 29 3
Other results
Waterloo (0) vs Guelph (3)
25-18, 25-22, 25-23
Waterloo (2) vs McGill (3)
25-23, 21-25, 16-25, 25-21, 15-11
McMaster (3) vs Sherbrooke (2)
25-19, 20-25, 25-20, 19-25, 15-13
Guelph (2) vs McGill (3)
23-25, 25-15, 15-25, 25-19, 20-18
