Windsor sweeps visiting Excalibur

The Lancer women’s volleyball team earned their first two wins of the season with a weekend sweep of the visiting Trent Excalibur.
 
Windsor swept both games earning a 3-0 (25-13. 25-21, 25-16) Friday and 3-0 (25-7, 25-21, 25-20) win on Saturday afternoon.
 
SATURDAY
Aryn Markett helped put the Lancers on top with 10 kills and 8 digs, while Raiya Millin had 8 kills and 4 digs.
 
The Excalibur’s Natalie Fournier put in the work contributing 4 kills and 6 digs.
 
GAME FLOW
In the opening set, the Excalibur came out early taking the first pair of points over the Lancers. Markett would get a few kills throughout the set, finding empty holes on the court and firing up the Windsor bench. With momentum, the Lancers went on a offensive run to battle the Excalibur and took the first set 25-13.
 
The second set had the blue and gold looking to extend their lead as they forced the Excalibur to stay on their toes as they moved across the court. Nicole Woelk made a massive save for the Lancers as she dove across the court to put Trent at a loss and Windsor took the point. As the tension increased, the Excalibur would slowly put the work in on the offensive side to close the gap and things were tied up 16-16 halfway through the set. Yet the Lancers stayed grounded and with some heavy swings were able to finish off the set on top 25-21.
 
The third set had Windsor full of energy as they showed off their offensive skill and close the game off strong. Trent took the first couple points after attack errors by the Lancers but with good efforts to scramble back, they found their rhythm to prevent anymore giveaways. The team worked together to pull away and extend the gap as the Excalibur struggled on the defense from some strong serves. Windsor was able to prevent the Trent Excalibur from making anymore marks on their court and secured their first victory of the season, 25-16 and 3-0 overall.
 
SUNDAY
Emma Shepherd led the team with 12 kills and 4 digs and Yaila Sealy also helped carry the momentum with 9 kills and 2 digs to put the match away.
 
The Excalibur’s Fournier had another solid performance contributing 5 kills and 7 digs.
 
GAME FLOW
In their opening set the Lancers looked to build upon Saturday’s game and put on an exceptional performance for Lancer fans. Windsor came out in control early in the set with a huge block by Shepherd putting up a shield against the Excalibur. As Trent had little opportunities to pick up any points and struggled to retrieve the ball, Windsor’s middle blocker Megan Gahima and outside hitter Sealy had their fair share of kills to make their mark on the court. With strong serves, Windsor took the first set 25-7.
 
The second set had the blue and gold fired up as they continued to pull away from the visitors. Shepherd contributed a huge kill to strike first and give Windsor the first point of the set. Windsor continued to carry their momentum and scored four unanswered points to the visitors. However the Excalibur stayed grounded and came within striking distance through a series of back and forth battles and tied the Lancers 9-9 halfway through the set. Fournier matched the blue and gold’s strong offense with two service aces and keep the squad on their toes. In hopes of closing the game off in their favour, Windsor grabbed another set 25-21 and put them up 2-0 in the match.
 
The blue and gold and the Excalibur carried their momentum into the third set showing a better display of trade-off points. The visitors tied the game 11-11, yet an attack error helped put the Lancers ahead. After forfeiting two-points to Trent, Windsor knew they needed to keep their composure and go on the attack. Anna Scarfe put things in motion with a huge dig to get the blue and gold back in the game. With the teams trading leads, a final timeout called by Trent helped set the athletes up to close out the set. The final play was established by an attack error and secured the Lancers second win of the weekend with a final score of 25-20.
 
UP NEXT
The blue and gold hosts the TMU Bold on Sunday, November 20th at the Toldo Lancer Centre set for 2:00 pm. The game can be seen live on OUA.tv. Tickets can be purchased at goLancers.ca/tickets.