Gee-Gees continue undefeated start with 3-1 win against Waterloo

Gee-Gees continue undefeated start with 3-1 win against Waterloo

Team Stats

October 27, 2012

The Gee-Gees women's volleyball team finally lost its first set of the regular season against the Waterloo Warriors on Oct. 27. Playing their third straight game on the road to start the season, uOttawa won the first set against Waterloo before dropping a closely-contested second set, 25-23. However, a talented and resilient Gee-Gees squad regrouped to take sets three and four to earn a 3-1 victory. Last season, the Warriors handed uOttawa their first loss of the season, when they swept the Gee-Gees at Montpetit Hall. The nationally sixth-ranked Gee-Gees are now 3-0 on the season.

"Full credit to Waterloo tonight-they played consistently all night and their defense and attitude pressured us and made us a bit one-dimensional at times," said Gee-Gees head coach Lionel Woods.

For the second straight game, third-year outside hitter Karina Krueger Schwanke scored a game-high 20 points to spearhead the Gee-Gees

offense. Ottawa was firing on all cylinders in the first set, scoring 11 offensive kills to only two attack errors, for a kill percentage of 0.409. The Gee-Gees took the first set 25-19 against a Warriors team who fell to 1-2 after this game.

Then came the second set in which the Gee-Gees lost by two points. The second set was the only set where Waterloo had a better kill percentage than the Gee-Gees, 0.259 to 0.226. uOttawa's streak of winning seven straight sets to start the season finally came to an end.

However, the Gee-Gees responded well in the third set, to re-take control of the match. As usual, Ottawa dominated their opponents in blocking, led by third-year outside hitter Kelsie English and second-year middle Alix Durivage. The Gee-Gees also received stellar work from fourth-year setter Christina Grail who had 38 assists and solid defence from their libero Stephanie Theiler who had 20 digs.

"I was pleased with our play in set three where we seemed to put our foot down and take care of the little things with more commitment and determination to end rallies," explained Woods.

The Gee-Gees successfully wrapped up the match in the fourth set with a 25-17 victory. Ottawa was aided by a number of unforced errors on the part of Waterloo.

Ottawa will face McMaster tomorrow at noon, in a rematch of the 2012 Gee-Gees Preseason Classic gold medal match which Ottawa won 3-0. The Gee-Gees went 2-0 against the Marauders in the preseason.

1 2 3 4 Final

Waterloo 19 25 20 17 1

Gee-Gees 25 23 25 25 3

Gee-Gees leading players: Karina Krueger Schwanke 20 points, 16 kills, 4 digs, Kelsie English 14 points, 9 digs, 3 blocks

Waterloo leading players: Clara Tse 11 kills, 12 digs, Shannon Lodoen 8 kills, 7 digs