Badgers complete three-set sweep in North Bay

The Brock Badgers’ women’s volleyball team picked up a commanding 3-0 win (25-18, 25-17, 27-25) over the Nipissing Lakers on Friday, Jan. 12 in North Bay.  

Third-year outside hitter Emily Foest recorded a team-high 13 kills in the win. Veteran libero Aleiah Torres was the Badgers’ leader in digs with 14. Graduate student and setter Sara Rohr, who leads the OUA in assist-per-set, picked up 35 assists in the win.

In the opening set, a perfectly placed kill from outside hitter Madison Chimienti gave the Badgers a 4-3 lead; their first lead of the set. A string of attacking errors from the Lakers helped the Badgers take a commanding 13-7 advantage midway through the set. A perfect serve from first-year defensive specialist Brianne Whalen forced Nipissing to return the ball directly into the path of Foest, who made no mistake spiking the ball into the floor and grabbing the Badgers the first set win 25-18.  

The second set opened up with Nipissing taking a brief lead before errors from the Lakers put the Badgers back in the mix. Back-to-back service aces from Gigi Markotic gave the Badgers an 11-9 lead and ultimately was a turning point for Brock in the middle set. Kills from Emma Baruchelli and Madison Tuck helped Brock pull away from the Lakers with a 17-12 lead. The Badgers were able to close out the set by a score of 25-17 thanks to three important kills from Markotic near the end. Brock had a .333 hitting percentage in the set.

The third and final set started with both teams trading points before back-to-back aces again from Markotic gave Brock a two-point lead, making it 8-6. Showing some fight down two sets to none, Nipissing took a 16-11 lead at one point before the Badgers rallied to even the scoreline. The third set briefly entered into extras until an attacking error from the Lakers, followed up by a kill from Foest iced the set and match for the Badgers. 

Up next, the Brock Badgers women’s volleyball team (10-1) will play their second of a back-to-back against the Nipissing Lakers (3-6) on Saturday, Jan. 13 at 4 p.m. You can follow along at OUA.tv.