Bold record second-straight win, defeat previously undefeated Marauders

TORONTO — The TMU Bold women’s volleyball team handed the McMaster Marauders their first loss of the season with a 3-1 win (25-18, 23-25, 25-23, 25-23) on Friday night at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.

After winning two of the first three sets, the Bold found themselves trailing 23-18 in the fourth, and potentially final frame. With the Marauders looking to force a fifth set, TMU rallied off eight-straight points with second-year Scarlett Gingera on service — closing out the win for the home side.

“That was awesome,” said Moore. “I actually thought if we won that one, we’d go to five. I actually forgot that we won two sets already. So yeah, it was great. Huge comeback from behind to win that last set.”

“This one was a really big confidence booster — especially coming back in that set,” said Gingera. “I think that says a lot about us. I don’t think we’ve done that before. That was the first time we’ve really come back from that big of a lead — it shows us what we can do.”

Moore led the way for TMU, pacing the team with 18 kills on the night, while also chipping in a pair of aces and 11 digs.

“I actually didn’t even know,” said Moore, when asked about the 18 kills. “It was so much fun. I think I was just playing super confident and super aggressive. I knew my team was there to cover me. Them doing their job really allows me to play aggressively.”

“She’s so good. I look up to her so much. She’s so supportive on the court. She’s the one person I come to when I’m struggling. She’s such a good teammate,” said Gingera.

“I think if you watched the match tonight, you see what a special player she is and the ability and physicality and skill and competitiveness that she brings to the team. Maybe what you don’t see all the time is that’s how she practices every day and the level of humility that she brings to the team and treats other people with as someone who’s new to our team is really pretty special,” said Reid, when asked about the fifth-year transfer, who is in her first year with the program after transferring from Dalhousie.

“I’m really happy to see her play such an amazing match and be a major reason why we were able to win.”

Moore helped the Bold pick up their second-straight victory after the team won their home-opener last Saturday afternoon against the Toronto Varsity Blues.

“You don’t get wins over those two programs too often. I’m really proud of the group because we played a great match,” said Reid, who reflected upon the team’s disappointment of being swept on opening weekend. “To be able to come back at home against two really great teams and string together some wins is going to be a huge confidence boost for our group and I think it can propel us forward here in the first half.

Following the game, Reid reflected back on the team’s season-opener against the Western Mustangs. With the Bold leading 24-19 and needing a win in the fourth set to force a fifth-frame, the Mustangs rallied off seven-straight points to pick up the win.

“To be able to demonstrate to one another that we can do that on the other side, to find a way to come back and win — we kept our cool in that situation with a couple of really key plays and found ways to come back and win it. We saved ourselves from playing another set, which is nice,” said Reid.

With the loss the Marauders fell to 5-1, after only dropping four sets in their first five games of the season prior to tonight.

The now 2-2 TMU is set to be back in action on Sunday, as they travel to Windsor for a meeting with the Lancers.

“It’s going to be a massive challenge,” said Reid, who mentioned a long bus ride, questionable weather forecast, an unfamiliar Sunday afternoon start and suiting up in a new Windsor facility. “We play a team that’s a really good defensive team who will put a lot of pressure on us. If we think it’s going to be easier because we just beat a good team tonight, we’re going to be in real trouble.”

“It’s one of those tests to see how professional our group can be and how well we can prepare and then somehow find the energy to play another match like we played tonight on Sunday. It won’t be easy.”

First serve is scheduled for 2:00 p.m at the Toldo Lancer Centre.