After a tough 3-1 loss on Friday, Feb. 2, the Brock Badgers women’s volleyball team came back in style, besting the host McMaster Marauders 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-17) in Hamilton.
With the win, the Badgers handed the Marauders their first loss via sweep in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) regular season.
Outside hitter Madison Chimienti led the Badgers with 10 kills and right side Sadie Dick earned a game-high 13.5 points off eight kills and an impressive 5.5 blocks. Sara Rohr continued to facilitate the Brock offence, finishing with 31 assists, and Aleiah Torres led the defence with a game-high 11 digs.
After a tight early going, Brock used strong blocking at the net to seize a 14-10 lead. The Marauders countered with tough serving to eventually take a 19-18 advantage. Fighting back, the Badgers forced the Marauders into multiple attacking errors, including a massive solo stuff block from Chimienti to close out the set 25-22. The Badgers delivered three blocks in the frame and forced the Marauders into eight attacking errors.
The Badgers started out with a 10-7 lead in the second set that was immediately erased by three straight Marauders’ points. A timeout was called by Brock down 20-17, hoping to stop some of the McMaster momentum. It worked in the Badgers’ favour, with four straight points capped off by Dick’s second block of the frame. Multiple late timeouts were called by McMaster to try and take back the lead, but Chimienti’s seventh kill of the match put an end to those hopes, as the Badgers took the set 25-23.
These evenly matched teams continued to go point for point early in the third set. The Badgers got to their first three-point lead at 12-9 off two straight hitting errors from the hosts. From there, Brock kept their momentum going, with Chimienti contributing from both the front row and behind the service line. The Badgers’ defence held the Marauders to a .000 hitting percentage in the set en route to a 25-17 third set win and the sweep.
Up next, the No. 2 Badgers (16-2) return home to Bob Davis Gymnasium on Saturday, Feb. 10 to take on the Waterloo Warriors (10-7). First serve is at 6 p.m. You can purchase your tickets at https://brocku.universitytickets.com. The game can also be seen on OUA.tv.