Ryerson Rams at York Lions - Women’s Volleyball - 1 pm at Tait McKenzie 

Coming into the game, the expectations were very clear. Ryerson came into York’s house with a 1-6 record, fresh off tough losses (as all losses are tough) with Ottawa, then Brock.  The York Lions: Undefeated, leading the East standings. Combine that with the tag team of enthusiastic announcing, and “Mitch” the hype man hosting at York, and straight sets were the bet.

 

That’s not to say this didn’t come out competitive. The first set opened to 16 – 14, a lukewarm start. But York eventually settled in, with some punctuated hits coming out from 2 Brandie Wilkerson at power. The set ended at 25 - 17.

 

In the second set, York threw out a substitution at middle, kept some substitutions from the midst of the first set. The new mix started slow, and Ryerson fought their way to a 14 – 7 lead early.

 

Queue a York time out.

 

Pepper in at least a 16-4 run, and consider York settled in. Consistent passing and an occasional emphatic kill from Wilkerson (earning a “selling tickets” comment from the announcers box) ended the second set 25 – 18 for the York Lions with all momentum behind them.

 

In the third set, York went with some players from the first set, and with a fresh face here and there, and slid Wilkerson over to swing from right side. One of the new faces, 5 Beata Dye, a rookie coming out from George S. Henry Academy, single-handedly put her high school team into the Toronto City Semi-Finals last year and comes with some expectation.

 

Wilkerson had no issue moving over to the right, swinging with loud, clean contacts for a couple more kills. Dye came through with a hard kill, just past the attack line herself. Late in the game, she also got some reaction from the crowd with a high-energy roof. At some point, the Rams realized the match was out of their hands. The very last play actually caught an unexpecting Lisa Hooey right in the face for a clean pack. It was disheartening, I’m sure.

 

The final score, pack and all, came out to 25 - 17, 25 - 18, and 25 - 12 .

 

The York Lions continue their unbeaten season, moving to 6 – 0. They host 2 – 6 Lakehead this upcoming weekend.

 

The Ryerson Rams fall to 1 – 7. Do they play in the Laval Tournament coming up? No games on schedule. They don’t play another OUA season game until January 7^th.

 

Line Up

            Ryerson Rams

1             Haley Wolfenden

2            Katrina Gonyea

4             Sara Burtwell

5             Lauren Soklowski

6             Jana Champagne

8             Jessica Broad

9             Elyse Savoie

11           Carli Yim

15            Lisa Hooey

 

      York Lions

1             Kristina Vlcek

2             Brandie Wilkerson

3             Melissa Humana-Paredes

4             Stephanie Green

5             Beata Dye

6             Thinesa Sriskandarajah

7             Dayna Herold

8             Gina Morphy

9             Allison Peters

10            Sarah Sutton

11            Caroline Cooper

12            Sheraine Henry

13            Tory McCracken

14            Sarah Holloway

15            Adriana Mojsiak