The York University Lions women’s volleyball team battled the Waterloo Warriors on Saturday for the second time in 22 hours, looking for a split of their two-game weekend series with Waterloo. The Lions were coming off a straight-sets loss to the Warriors on Friday in a match that got away from the youthful Lions after a competitive first set.
On this day, while the game was much closer, the result was the same, as the Lions dropped the back half of the doubleheader in straight sets, 25-22, 25-19, 25-22.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
York took a 3-0 lead in the opening set and scored six of the match’s first nine points, led by two kills apiece from Amarai Endes and Alisa Trubyuk. However, the Warriors responded with six straight points to take a three-point lead of their own at 9-6. The Lions eventually found their game once again, and took a 20-16 lead. The Warriors, though, rallied for nine of the final 11 points in the opening set to earn the 25-22 first-set victory and take a 1-0 lead.
The second set began as another evenly-matched frame between the Lions and Warriors. In fact, neither team led by more than three until late in the set. York was the beneficiaries of numerous Warrior errors, with just five of York’s 19 points in the set coming via a kill or ace. Waterloo took a 17-13 lead in the third set, and began to pull away as the set dragged on, never looking back en route to a 25-19 victory and a 2-0 advantage.
The Lions entered the third set trying to avoid losing all six sets to Waterloo and extend this one to the fourth. That task was made tougher by virtue of the Warriors scoring the first five points. York then replied with the next five points – thanks to kills from Endes and Jordyn Sealock to even the set at 5-5. That set the tone for the remainder of the set, which was one of runs. After the visitors took a 14-13 lead, the home side reeled of seven straight scores to lead 20-14. York never truly recovered from that late-set spurt and the Warriors went on to another 25-22 victory to take the match 3-0.
LOOKING AHEAD:
The Lions continue their four-game road trip next weekend when they visit the reigning Quigley Cup runners-up, the Queen’s Gaels for a pair of games next Friday and Saturday nights. First serve for both matches flies at 6:00 pm.