Badgers push No. 10 Lancers to brink in five-set battle

In a late five-set contest, the No. 10 Lancers bested the resilient Badgers 3-2 (25-18. 23-25, 21-25, 27-25, 13-15) in Windsor on Friday, Jan. 19.  

It was a balanced effort on Friday night as three Badgers registered double digits in points. Third-year outside hitter Devin Cooney led all scorers with 19.5 off 16 kills and 3.5 blocks. Fellow outside hitters Sauli Lianga and KJ Robinson notched 17 and 12, respectively. Fourth-year setter Grant Reddon dished out 48 assists, while Lianga led the game with 10 digs. 

The Badgers got out to some early four-point leads in the first to seize momentum. The lead got up to as large as ten as the visitors earned a 21-11 advantage. Despite a small run from the Lancers, the Badgers held strong to take the first set 25-18. Brock hit at a .304 hitting percentage, while Windsor was in the negatives, mustering a -0.43. 

In the second set, the Badgers got out to an early 11-7 lead taking advantage of some Windsor errors. The Lancers fought back, eventually going up 17-16. Windsor kept their pressure up and a setter dump from Markus Law-Heese increased the advantage to 23-20. The hosts had to call a timeout multiple times late in the set, as Brock whittled the lead to one twice. It was not enough, as Windsor squeaked out a 25-23 victory. 

Although Windsor stormed out to an early lead at 11-8, the Badgers did not go away, rattling off three straight of their own to tie it up. The home side opened the lead back up to as high as six before the Badgers narrowed the advantage to three at 22-19, forcing a Lancers’ timeout. Windsor held on for the 25-21 set three win despite a late push from Brock. 

The Badgers looked to seize momentum early and they went point for point with the hosts in the fourth. A KJ Robinson tip off the Windsor block gave Brock their first two-point lead of the set at 16-14. The script got flipped as the Lancers went on a 5-2 run to go up 19-16. Jacob Ferland powered a quick in the middle and Reddon won a joust at the net to tie it up at 24-24. A kick save off Cooney’s left foot kept the game alive for the Badgers and the Kanata native powered a kill to win the set 27-25.  

A see-saw fifth set saw neither team gain a two-point advantage until Ferland and Cooney teamed for a double block to go up 7-5. Holding on to their two-point lead at 10-8 led to Windsor’s first timeout. As their lead grew to four at 12-8, the Lancers had no choice but to call another timeout. A three-point run from the Lancers caused the Badgers’ first timeout at 12-11. Windsor kept their momentum going, going on a 4-1 run for the 15-13 win and the match. 

Up next, the Badgers (10-3) take on the No. 10 Lancers (8-3) for a rematch on Saturday, Jan. 19 at 6 p.m. You can see the game on OUA.tv.