Women’s volleyball: No. 4 Brock Badgers remain undefeated in OUA

The No. 4 Brock women’s volleyball team capped off the first half of the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) season with a win in Guelph on Sunday, Nov. 28.

The Badgers flew by the Gryphons 3-0 (25-20, 25-17, 25-14) as second-year outside hitter Sadie Dick led the offence with 14 kills. In addition, third-year setter Sara Rohr registered a career-high 40 assists, and second-year libero Aleiah Torres was a defensive dynamo with 20 digs.

Brock is undefeated heading into the holiday break with a perfect 5-0 record. They are tied with Western (5-0) at the top of the OUA West Division. Brock will face Western in a home-and-home series at the beginning of February.

Second-year defensive specialist Samantha Casey said the Badgers are focused and aren’t taking this season for granted.

“Going through the pandemic as a team meant we’ve been through a lot of hardship together,” Casey said. “It’s pushed us to become so much better than previous years. We’ve seen the low lows, so being able to build off that has made every win even more rewarding.”

This week, Brock climbed the national rankings from the sixth spot to No. 4 in Canada, just behind Alberta, Trinity Western and Toronto.

“We train out of system pretty frequently, so we’re ready for those unauthentic situations,” Casey said. “We’re a serve and pass team because our team is made up of a lot of ball control players. We’re a classy team, as our head coach, Steve Delaney, has trained us to be. We want to earn our wins and not handed wins.”

On Sunday, Brock scored 18 kills through each set as their hitting efficiency averaged .306. In the third set, the Badgers committed only two errors for a .410 hit rate.

First-year outside hitters Emily Foest and Madison Chimienti each recorded 12 and 10 kills, respectively. Foest contributed seven digs, and Chimienti chipped in six. Dick led the team with three blocks and a pair of aces.

Third-year middle Christina Jovetic scored eight kills and an ace, while first-year setter Lauren Teehan dished out three assists.

The Badgers return to action on Jan. 14, 2022, when they host Waterloo.