Women’s Volleyball
Quarter-final 2: UBC wins a gruelling battle against Dalhousie
The top seed at the U SPORTS Women's Volleyball Championship presented by Hotel Universel Quebec, the Calgary Dinos, ignored a hostile crowd on Friday night at the Université Laval PEPS to win their quarter-final match in straight sets, 3-0 (27-25, 25-21, 25-11), against the host Rouge et Or.
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Supported by a crowd of over 2,000 people, Laval gave the Canada West champions a good battle in the first two sets, before seeing Calgary completely dominate the third to come away with the victory. The Dinos, making their first appearance at the national championship since 2009, will play for a medal on Sunday, but before then they will have a semi-final on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT against the winner of Friday night's Ryerson-UBC Okanagan quarter-final. For their part, the Rouge et Or will play in a consolation semi-final at 3 p.m. ET, / 12 p.m. PT Saturday against the Ryerson-UBCO loser.
With their head coach, Natalie Gurnsey, absent after giving birth yesterday, Calgary assistant coach Al Taylor reacted to the win with pride.
“It’s been a long time since Calgary has been here (at a national championship) and the group has been together for almost five years now so it’s a really good thing for us.”
Taylor and his team knew that they would have to take on not only the Rouge et Or, but also their boisterous supporters.
"We spent a lot of time talking about what it would be like to play at the national championship and to use the spirit of the crowd in our favour to help us play better, not worse, and not worry about it. The team played very well tonight.”
The Rouge et Or had some good stretches in the game, notably coming back from a 24-19 deficit in the first set to force a 24-24 tie, however they never got a chance to close out the set.
"We believed," said Laval head coach Olivier Caron, who did not believe in the "underdog" label. "I knew we could beat them. We had to be patient, observe and be disciplined, which we were not able to do. We played two good sets but in the third, the girls on the reception line did not believe anymore."
With 10 kills, two aces, a solo block and three assists, middle blocker Jaylynn Moffat was the player of the game for the victors. Alice Cloutier, with 11 kills, an ace, a solo block and 12 digs received the honours for Laval.
Players of the Game:
Laval Rouge et Or: Alice Cloutier
Calgary Dinos: Jaylynn Moffatt