Banner Season: Badgers, Gaels set to quarrel for each program’s second Quigley Cup triumph
Burlington, Ont. – For a third straight season, the Brock Badgers will play for the OUA women’s volleyball title, with the Queen’s Gaels serving as their scorching hot combatants for the conference’s championship game at Brock University’s Bob Davis Gymnasium on Saturday, March 11th at 6:00pm.
Championship Details
When: Saturday, March 11 (6:00pm)
Where: Bob Davis Gymnasium (Brock University)
Participating Schools (2): Brock Badgers (host), Queen’s Gaels
Watch: oua.tv / cbcsports.ca / CBC Gem
Defending Champions: Brock Badgers
While both have ended up at the same destination, staring down one final game for Quigley Cup glory, their paths to get there have been vastly different.
For the OUA’s top-seeded Badgers, led by coach of the year Steve Delaney, their quest for the cup went just about as expected after entering the 2022-23 season as defending champions. And after capturing their first Quigley Cup title in program history in 2022, they are looking to add their second just one year later.
The St. Catharines squad played their way to a provincial-best 18 wins, while dropping just two contests all year long. Leading the charge for the Badgers is the talented duo of Sadie Dick and Madison Chimienti, with the former claiming first team all-star honours this year. Both eclipsed three points per set and supplied per-set averages of just under three kills as well, good for top-10 OUA ranks in the latter, but the offence doesn’t stop there. The likes of Emily Foest, Laurin Ainsworth, and OUA all-star Grace Pyatt each notch at least 2.5 points per set as well to help extend the balanced attack that sparked a league best 12.51 kills per set and 16.5 points per set.
Helping spread the wealth therein, while also anchoring another of the team’s conference-best marks, is setter Sara Rohr, who orchestrates the offence as one of the premier setters in the conference. The league-leader with 9.80 assists per set, which included a season-high 60 against Waterloo on November 18th, was a key cog in the well-oiled Brock machine, en route to claiming the team’s third all-star nod on the year.
Libero Aleiah Torres rounds out the Badgers quartet of all-stars on the heels of second-best marks this season in both total digs (295) and digs per set (4.21).
For Queen’s, their path to the finale saw a few more bumps in the road, which led them to the seventh spot in the eight-team playoff bracket. But the underdog status was welcomed with open arms by the Gaels, as they are now just one win away from also collecting their second OUA women’s volleyball title.
Prior to their playoff push, their all-star trio of Hannah Duchesneau, Lauren Mellon, and Mary Stewart were instrumental to the team’s 14-win regular season. Like Brock, the Tricolour’s offensive leaders each registered three-plus points per set, marks achieved by Duchesneau (3.2) and Stewart (3.0), with the former leading the team with 2.69 kills per set. Arielle Palermo also chipped in with a solid season on the outside, while Mellon and Amanda Siksna anchored Queen’s in the middle, helping them to a fourth-best mark in total blocks (161). Beyond their proficiency at the net, the Gaels have also impressed at the service line with 1.87 service aces per set (4th in OUA).
All together, their potent play helped Queen’s earn wins in five of their first six games of the year before reeling off a six-game winning streak to open the winter semester. The team struggled thereafter; however, dropping their final five matches of the season, each coming against fellow playoff teams.
In the postseason script that followed, the Gaels have managed to avenge those late-season losses. In Round 1, Queen’s corralled the nationally-ranked Mustangs in straight sets, before putting an end to Waterloo’s sensational season with yet another three-set victory. The seventh-ranked Gaels flew to the finals by winning 15 of the final 16 points in their semifinal against Waterloo, and as they turn their attention to the Quigley Cup, the Gaels will look to do add the final feather to their cap to close out the conference slate, with yet another bounce back opportunity against the Badgers.
The defending champions were part of Queen’s tough season-ending stretch, hitting the court for a pair of head-to-head meetings during the penultimate weekend of regular season competition. The Badgers produced a pair of straight set wins over the Kingston crew therein, with Chimienti’s 14.5 points leading the way in the front half of the back-to-back, and Dick and Pyatt producing double-digit points in the latter half to complete the sweep.
The two wins were part of seven straight victories with which Brock closed the season before hosting Windsor in their playoff opener. It was more of the same in that Round 1 clash, as the championship hosts limited the Lancers to an average of just 16 points per set in the sweep. The team then put a halt to the wave of momentum that York was riding into the postseason, thanks to a 3-1 semifinal triumph ensured their chance for a repeat remained intact.
There is no one way to secure a spot in the championship, something both Brock and Queen’s have proven to this point, but while both have travelled the terrain in their own respective ways to get to the shining lights of the banner season stage, they will each have the same goal in mind when they step onto the floor of Brock’s Bob Davis Gymnasium this Saturday – add a second Quigley Cup to their program’s history books.
