After splitting their opening two matches of the season at Queen’s, the Varsity Blues could not have put together a better run since then to head into the holiday break. The Blues won their seventh consecutive game Saturday afternoon, defeating the Brock Badgers 3-2 (22-25, 19-25, 25-12, 25-22, 15-10) to give themselves an 8-1 record going into the new year.
HOW IT HAPPENED: After sweeping the Badgers in three sets less than 24-hours ago, the Blues found themselves in a much tighter contest on Saturday. From the very beginning, the Badgers showed they were going to give the Blues everything they could handle. Having held a lead throughout much of the opening set, the Badgers went up 1-0, winning the set 25-22.
The second set saw a similar patter to the first. Despite the Blues efforts to even the match, Brock was able to fight off nearly every Toronto push. The Badgers once again held the lead through most of the set and then really established control with back-to-back points late that put them up 21-16. From there, the visitors would go on to win the set by six, 25-19.
Between the end of the second set and the beginning of the third though, something flipped for the Blues. Toronto came out full of energy and on the attack in the third, giving the Badgers little life throughout. The Blues quickly went up 9-1, and used that momentum to carry them through for a 25-12 win.
Continuing to ride that high, the Blues applied more pressure in the fourth. Going up 9-5 to open the set, the Blues led for much of it, keeping the Badgers at least two points behind. However, Brock was eventually able to pull even at 19-19, as they showed no signs of going away. Fortunately for the Blues, they were able to flip momentum quickly to take a 23-20 lead, before winning the set 25-22.
Heading to a winner take all fifth-set, the two teams traded points in the beginning, but the Blues were then able to break away first. Toronto jumped out to an 8-5 lead at the switch, and then extended the advantage to 13-7. With the Blues up 14-10, a Badgers service error would ultimately clinch the match for the home-side.
UP NEXT: The Blues will now head into the break. They will resume their OUA schedule on January 7th when they host the Guelph Gryphons.