Women’s Volleyball Playoff Preview

By Andrew Papadopoulos

The Windsor Lancer women’s volleyball team is getting ready to assume the role as underdogs for another post-season playoff run in pursuit of a spot in the OUA Final Four and chase for the Quigley Cup.
 
The blue and gold women’s volleyball team who finished eighth in the overall OUA regular season standings with an 11-9 record will now travel to the Niagara region on Saturday to take on the top-ranked 18-2 Brock Badgers at the Bob Davis Gymnasium in St. Catharines. 
 
Despite this match up presenting as a first place versus eight place mismatch on paper and what may even appear that one team is already heavily favoured over the other going into this contest.  However, it would be a foolhardy mistake to overlook and immediately discount this young and determined Lancer squad’s essence heading into this match up. 
 
As on the contrary, the Lancers WVB team has shown promise on several occasions this season by consistently demonstrating resiliency and tenacious play all throughout the year which they look forward to showcasing once more against the Badgers in a knockout game.    
 
Head coach Lucas Hodgson believes that his team is playing right up to par with the top teams in the league this season after enduring a grueling travel schedule especially as of late which has generated positive momentum heading into their quarter-final playoff match up with Brock.
 
“Our team is playing some of its best volleyball right now.” Hodgson expressed with confidence regarding how his team is feeling heading into the post-season.  
 
“This was a crazy year and a lot of fun to play as having a full season once again was great.  However, the travel was not ideal for us, with our team hitting the furthest spots in Ontario for all our road games but I think it will pay off going forward as we have become much more comfortable on the road, and we feel we can play our style and game in any gym now. There were not a lot of easy games which should help us prep for a very tough opponent in Brock.”
 
Coach Hodgson, a long-time veteran coach in the OUA who has been the blue and gold’s leader since 2011 and prior to that had storied success at the helm previously leading the Brock Badgers women’s volleyball program, further emphasized the importance of what it is going to take in order to upset a top squad such as Brock who come into this head-to-head match up ranked second overall in U SPORTS. 
 
“Brock is no doubt a tough opponent, but I think that is motivating us a little bit more,” Hodgson pragmatically stated. “We feel if we can limit our errors and stay aggressive, we will be good to go on our side of the court. As stated before, our season was a tough one (with strong competition and some tough long road trips in between), but I think it helped us grow and prep for this weekend, so we are looking to come out strong and stay up.”
 
Senior veteran, Nicole Woelk, also shared her perspective as to what her team will have to do in order to get past the Badgers this weekend in her hometown of St. Catharines. 
 
“Going into playoffs, we as a team, are really excited to put all of our training and practice to the test.” Woelk said of the opportunity to face Brock in the first round of the playoffs. 
 
“Recently, we have been able to slow things down and work on more technical aspects of our game, allowing us to implement those skills into our game play. We are a very young team with tons of energy and passion, so we are excited to jump back in after having a bye weekend to end the season and now leave it all out there on the floor.” 
 
Woelk also elaborated further on what the team will need to do to put pressure on the Badgers with the Lancers being viewed as the underdogs in this battle heading into the contest.
 
“Going into Saturday, we know it’ll be key to focus on our first contact as this will allow us to establish our offence early on, hold the blockers, and hopefully get some 1 on 1’s for our attackers.” The blue and gold’s setter and captain fundamentally explained. 
 
“Additionally, serving pressure will be another key for us, as we want our opponent to be out of system as much as possible, which will in turn allow us to set up our big blocks and let our defence make some great digs like we know we can!”
 
The Lancer ladies had two prior road meetings with Brock this season back in November where they fell 3-0 in each contest to the nationally ranked Badgers.   However, this time around both teams will have a clean slate even though Brock remain the favourites to many pundits. 
 
Despite those unfavourable predictions against Windsor, Woelk is nevertheless excited to make her way back to her hometown for what could be the final time in her OUA career as a graduating senior player and she hopes to savour the playoff atmosphere with an abundance of familiar faces expected to be in attendance to see her team play.
 
“In regard to returning back to Niagara and my hometown of St. Catharines for this year’s playoffs, I feel nothing but excitement!” Woelk passionately exclaimed with elation. 
 
“Regardless of who the crowd is cheering for, at the end of the day, I always feed off its energy.  I know I’ll have a few familiar friendly faces there to cheer us on which will add into that element of comfortability for me to just play my game in the gym while feeling at home despite not actually being on our team’s home court.  Brock has always been an exciting match up in my mind so I can’t wait to hit the court again and battle it out with everything I got.”
 
A battle it will certainly be as the blue and gold look forward to travelling up to Brock for a third and final time this year with their season on the line.  Even though they are the underdogs they look to embrace this role and potentially uncover a dark horse spirit while going up against a league gladiator on Saturday afternoon.
 
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
What: OUA Women’s Volleyball Quarter-Final Match
Who: Windsor Lancers WVB @ Brock Badgers
When: Saturday February 25, 2023, at 3:00PM
Where: Bob Davis Gymnasium in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
Livestream & Updates:  OUA.Tv will have the livestream coverage and fans can follow along on our social media pages including Twitter for in-game updates