Women’s Volleyball defeats Guelph in another 5-set thriller

The Windsor Lancer women’s volleyball team took on the Guelph Gryphons for the second time this weekend on the back-half another back-to-back homestand for the second straight weekend of volleyball action at the Toldo Lancer Centre.
 
The Lancers were able to edge out the Gryphons again in similar fashion to their contest less than 24 hours ago with an exciting 3-2 (25-16, 17-25, 22-25, 25-19, 15-10) victory over Guelph. 
 
STATS
The blue and gold were led once again by first-year phenom Aliah Admans who had 14 kills offensively and 14 digs defensively to lead the Lancers over the Gryphons with another solid two-way game. 
 
Nicole Woelk had 40 assists in the five-set victory helping to feed the Lancers offence all throughout the extended contest. 
 
Aryn Markett also had a great all-around match with 12 kills, 9 digs, and 4 service aces which was a game high for both sides.
 
Meanwhile, Emma Shepherd also had a terrific performance adding 9 kills and 2 service aces to the win in Windsor.
 
The Guelph Gryphons were led once again by their first-year standout as Briar Crerar had 13 kills, 3 service aces, and 7 digs in the loss to the Windsor Lancers.
 
GAME FLOW
Windsor set the tone in the opening set by gaining momentum early on and finding a way to continue growing their lead as the set went on.  They managed to jump out in front early on and despite trading points with the Gryphons they managed to keep a comfortable gap between them with steady consistent play to earn themselves a 25-16 win in the first set and go up 1-0 in the match.
 
Guelph responded in the second set having exchanged points early on with the Lancers they were able to continue playing on par with the hometown Windsor Lancers that allowed them to claw back into the contest.  The Gryphons were able to buckle down and put increased pressure on the blue and gold are the set wore on to cruise to an eventual 25-17 victory of the second set to tie the match up at 1-1.
 
Both sides traded points again steadily throughout the start of the third set which appeared to have no favourite to win it up until the midway mark.  However, with one team having to pull ahead the Gryphons were able to do so after being knotted up at 9-9 but the Lancers were unable to come back as Guelph’s momentum continued to snowball which helped them claim the third set by a score of 25-22 despite a late comeback attempt by the Lancer ladies who came close to equalizing the score at the 22-21 Guelph lead. 
 
The fourth set saw the Lancers come alive once again after ending the third set with a valiant effort they came out of the gate determined to send the game to another fifth set.  Both sides exchanged points again and Windsor was able to generate some offensive momentum from the hand of Shepherd who helped spark the Lancer offence along with her teammate Windsor’s middle Jordyn Brearley that allowed the Lancers to generate the much-needed energy down the stretch to open up a wider margin on the Gryphons.  With the Lancers consistent and determined play they were able to win the fourth set 25-19 and send the match to a fifth and final set for a fourth consecutive home game. 
 
In the deciding set, both sides once again played equally matched yet again, but the Lancers were the ones who were able to reach the 8-point mark first to switch sides and did not look back as they coasted to a humble 15-10 fifth set win and respectable 3-2 victory over the visiting Guelph Gryphons for a second straight evening. 
 
The win now improves the Lancers record on the year to 9-8 while Guelph falls to 3-11 after falling to the Lancers twice this weekend in the 10 sets played between both squads.
 
UP NEXT
The Windsor Lancers women’s volleyball team will now get set to hit the road next weekend when they travel north to North Bay to take on the Nipissing Lakers on Friday February 3rd and again on February 4th.  The Friday match is scheduled for a 6:00pm start time while the Saturday match is slated for a 12:00pm start.  Both games can be live streamed by Lancer fans on OUA.tv or follow our social media accounts for updates.