TORONTO – The Ryerson Rams women's volleyball team dropped a 3-0 (26-28, 24-26, 21-25) decision to the OUA West division-leading Western Mustangs to close the regular season portion of the schedule on Saturday night at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.
BOXSCORE
The Rams and Mustangs went toe to toe throughout the match, trading leads and momentum swings back and forth all night. In the first it was Western who got the upper hand early and forced Ryerson to play from behind. The Rams erased three point deficits on three occasions and battled back to take late leads at 23-22 and 26-25.
Western reserve Emma Somerville came in with the set tied at 26-26 and promptly served an ace to give the Mustangs a lead before a Ryerson attack error gave the visitors a 28-26 first set victory.
In the second set it was the Rams who led 16-14 at the technical timeout and the Mustangs turn to rally. Western took the lead at 23-22 on a Taylor Beedie service ace and after trading points to make it 25-24 Mustangs, the visitors blocked a step around attempt from Jena Bonello to win the set 26-24 and take a 2-0 match lead.
The third set started with a pair of lengthy runs for both teams. Trailing 5-3 early, Ryerson went on a 5-0 run to take an 8-5 lead. The three point spread remained in tact at 10-7 but the Mustangs responded with a 5-0 run of their own to retake the lead at 12-10.
Western led 16-14 at the technical timeout and the Rams couldn't catch the Mustangs down the stretch. An unfortunate call went against the Rams making the score 23-20 Western instead of just a one point spread at 22-21 and an eventual kill from Western's Serena Smith closed the set at 25-21 as the Mustangs completed the three set sweep.
Western's Aja Gyimah had a game-high 19 kill performance to lead the Mustangs while Beedie added ten kills in the win. Ryerson's Theanna Vernon had a team-high 15 kills in the loss with Bonello adding ten of her own.
“We allowed them to score a lot of points without having to work very hard and we didn't play very well as a unit in our blocking defence. In the end I thought we were good enough to win all three sets and we won zero so it's disappointing,” said head coach Dustin Reid on the regular season finale's outcome.
The loss certainly wasn't what the Rams wanted, especially on senior night as Emily Betteridge, Emily Nicholishen and Erica Naccarato all played in their final regular season game on home court.
“I expect that they should all be proud of their careers they've had here and the impact they've made. They've been a big part of transforming the program from where it was five years ago to where it is now both on the court with the performance we've had and the pride we exhibit when we play, but off the court as well in the culture that we have. I'm very thankful and appreciative and it's hard to imagine what it's going to be like without them, to be honest,” said Reid.
The Rams finish the regular season with a 13-6 record to own the second seed in the OUA East division. Western improved to 16-3 on the season and finish tied atop the OUA West.
Ryerson will host a playoff game next Saturday, February 27. More playoff information will follow in the coming week.
