AROUND OUA: Mustangs improve to 9-0 with straight sets win over Windsor

SCOREBOARD

Western 3 @ Windsor 0

RMC 0 @ Queen's 3

Trent 0 @ York 3

Mustangs improve to 9-0 with straight sets win over Windsor

WINDSOR, Ont. – In their first regular season game since the winter break, the Western Mustangs picked up right where they left off in November, taking a straight sets (25-23, 25-20, 25-17) win over the Windsor Lancers on Sunday afternoon at the St. Denis Centre.
 
With the win the Mustangs continue their undefeated season, improving to 9-0 on the year and maintaining their spot atop the OUA West Division. The Lancers record now stands at 3-5, good for fifth in the West.
 
Kelsey Veltman led the Mustangs offence on Sunday, recording 16.5 points off of 13 kills and four blocks, while also adding five digs. Aja Gyimah followed with 10.5 points, with Taylor Beedie recording a season-high seven points.
 
Erin Epema topped the Lancers scoresheet with 12 points, including seven in the second set, with 10 kills and two aces. Carleigh Bailey showed why she's leading the OUA in digs per set, recording 20 digs to lead all players.   
 
The Lancers put the Mustangs in something of an unfamiliar position in the first set, forcing the purple and white to play from behind for a large portion of the first. The two teams traded points throughout the early going, however the Lancers began to pull away towards the middle of the set, scoring four straight points to head into the technical timeout with a 16-12 lead over the Mustangs.
 
Windsor further increased their lead to 19-13 coming out of the timeout, however the Mustangs then began to storm back, taking advantage of attack errors from the Lancers to close things out with a 12-4 run to take the first set 25-23.
 
Western carried that momentum over into the second frame, starting things off with a 5-2 lead, before extending that to a 16-13 advantage at the technical timeout.
 
Western returned from the timeout and increased their lead to five thanks to back-to-back kills from Gyimah. The two teams traded points throughout the remainder of the set until Candice Scott finished things off with her fourth kill of the frame to take it 25-20 for the Mustangs.
 
It was all Mustangs in the final set, as the purple and white took control of the floor, recording a .379 hitting percentage while limiting the Lancers to a .045 success rate. Veltman recorded six of her 16.5 points in the set, while Gyimah followed with five points of her own.
 
After the two teams played to a 5-5 tie to begin the set the Mustangs took over from there, taking a 16-9 lead at the technical timeout en route to a 25-17 win to take the match in straight sets.
 
Next up for the Mustangs is a rematch with the McMaster Marauders on Saturday, January 21. The Mustangs will be looking to repeat the success they had in their final game of the first half, when they topped the Marauders in straight sets at Alumni Hall. Game time for next Saturday's matchup is set for 12 p.m. in Hamilton, and can be seen live on OUA.tv.

Source: Western Mustangs

Gaels open 2017 with 3-0 win over Kingston rivals RMC

KINGSTON, Ont. (January 15, 2017) - The Queen's Gaels (4-6) defeated RMC Paladins (0-10) in their first OUA league game of 2017. The scores of the sets finished at 25-9, 25-13 and 25-16 for the Gaels. 

GAME FLOW
Queen's opened the game with an immediate lead of 6-1, RMC called an timeout to recover the momentum that the Gaels had taken.  The timeout did not halt the Gaels offence as serving an immediate ace was Victoria Wensley (Coquitlam, B.C.).  The Gaels were able to hold a strong lead the entire set, thanks to a strong presence from Nicola Ros (North Vancouver, B.C.) who dished out many of her 13 assists in the set. 

The game opened up with the Paladins ready to fight, the score was neck and neck in the first half of the second set.  Ros was injured after being hit, and was replaced by Sierra Hardy (Oakville, Ont.).  In spite of their injury, the Gaels were able to continue to dominate the game and finish with a set score of 25-13 for the Gaels.  Savannah de Groot (Ottawa, Ont) had a number of kills in the set for the Gaels and finished with eight for the game. 

RMC started with quickpoints in the third set, with a 1-0 opening and a neck and neck battle of 4-4 in the first minutes, tied 6-6, 7-7, 9-9, RMC called a timeout when the Gaels broke the tie taking three consecutive points for a score of 12-9 .  The timeout did not advance the Paladins but the teams continued to keep a close game with a score of 16-12 for the Gaels at the technical timeout. The Gaels pushed forward from there an came away with the set 25-16 and the match 3-0.

BY THE NUMBERS 
416 - As a team the Gaels are second in the OUA for overall kills this season with 416 kills 
10 - The number of points scored by de Groot, a career high with the Gaels
1 - Only one error was made by the Gaels offensively in the first and second set

FINAL SAY
"We did a lot in December, we came back on the 28th and we had competition right away against Montreal and we hosted Moncton right away, we also went to the RMC tournament. Throughout that time it was a really good way to face other athletes across the net and I think we did a really good job at preparing ourselves for league which is always tough coming back from the break.  They played hard, with all the games that we played it looked fairly smooth, there is always little things that we can fix but overall I was pretty happy.  Offensively I was pretty happy, in the first two sets we only made one error in each which was pretty impressive. RMC is a scrappy team and they will pick up the balls and make our lives tough.  We did a great job offensively and defensively as well." - Michael Ling (Head Coach)

UP NEXT
The Gaels (4-6) and the RMC (0-10) Paladins will have an immediate rematch next week on January 21 at 1pm. The Gaels will be staying in Kingston, traveling down the road where the teams will face off with the Paladins having the home advantage.

Source: Queen's Gaels

Lions sweep Excalibur for fixth win of the season

The York University Lions women's volleyball team hit the court after a 24-hour turnaround on Sunday afternoon and recorded a straight sets victory over the Trent Excalibur at the Tait McKenzie Centre.
 
The first set of the match set the tone for what would be a quick and efficient game for the Lions. York's power hitting was on full display by Sarah Williams (Oakville, Ont.). She tallied five kills in just the first set and would finish the game with 12. One great play after another, the Lions hit 25 points with only 12 scored on them.
 
The Excalibur gave the Lions are tougher test. In this second set, the Lions began to make more frequent serving and attacking errors and these mistakes were used by the Excalibur to keep the game within reach. This set was the closest of the three as the Lions took the victory by a score of 25-22. Kayla Clennon's (Stoufville, Ont.) six kills in the set helped carry the Lions.
 
In the third the Lions would return to their level of dominance they held in the first set. The Excalibur began making many more errors than previously and the Lions took the free points with open arms. With a fast rising score, Cadence Currie (Scarborough, Ont.) pounded three kills, part of her seven kills in the match. After a few quick rallies the Lions reached 25 points and their sixth victory of the season in a three-set sweep.
 
With the victory the Lions now hold the third overall spot in the OUA East standings with a 6-4 record and have already equalled the number of wins they had all of last season. They now have a weekend off, and their next game will take place on Friday, Jan. 27 against the Waterloo Warriors in Waterloo, Ont.

Soure: York Lions