With the game on the line, Logan House and Grant Reddon connected on a pair of kills to clinch a decisive fourth set to lift the Brock men’s volleyball team to a historical 3-1 (25-19, 25-16, 22-25, 27-25) road victory over the Windsor Lancers on Friday, Feb. 11.
It was the first time Brock has defeated Windsor since the program restarted in 2016.
Head coach Matt Ragogna said it was rewarding to see his players back on the court competing since the COVID-19 pandemic paused the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) season
The last match Brock competed in was on Nov. 28, 2021.
“I know I’m excited that we’re back, but can’t put into words what it means to the guys,” said head coach Matt Ragogna. “They put in a lot of work at home when we were limited, and they deserve to get an end to their season.”
Brock was winless in nine meetings against Windsor dating back to 2017 until Friday’s game.
House scored nine of his 23 kills in the fourth to finish the night with a blistering .442 hitting percentage. The senior outside hitter added eight digs.
“This win means a lot to the guys. After being off for so long, there were many nerves coming into this match,” House said. “Then having only nine days of training makes it a bit more challenging, but it’s nice to win tonight, especially against a team like Windsor, who we hadn’t beaten before since the program started back up.”
After holding the Lancers off in the first set, the Badgers jumped out to a 13-6 lead in the second as the Brock offence overwhelmed Windsor with a .429 kill rate.
In the third, Windsor wrestled away the lead to narrowly win the set by three.
“We got away from our game plan in the third set and made a lot of errors on our contacts,” noted Ragogna. “In the fourth we were able to stay focused and closeout. We made the stops we needed to.”
Overall, the Badgers hit .218 (48-24-110) for the match, while the Lancers hit .108 (29-19-93). Reddon had 38 assists for the Badgers.
Defensively, Brock outblocked Windsor 16-10, with Christopher Chapman recording a game-high four blocks.
First-year outside hitter Kylar Code added nine kills and helped Brock get the edge in digs 42-33 by contributing seven. First-year middle Jacob Ferland and senior outside hitter Dean Globocki each recorded seven saves.
The Badgers improve to 5-2 and are currently second in the OUA West Division behind McMaster (6-0). Brock hosts Windsor at Bob Davis Gymnasium on Sunday, Feb. 13 at 4 p.m.
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