Trinity Western overpowered the Gee-Gees in the first and third sets, winning 25-18 and 25-13 with impressive blocking and timely hitting from their middle attackers. Those scores bookended an emotional second set which saw the Spartans pull out a 25-20 victory.
"If this is the first step of the next cycle for our program, what a great place to start," said head coach Lionel Woods, who is using this week's games to look ahead to the future. "We won't measure ourselves by this as a minimum, but this is where we got ourselves to. I told the team to be proud of the milestones that they set for this program."
Second-year middle Alix Durivage was also taking the long view of the team's performance. "We are so happy to have had the chance to play against these teams. I learned so much being here, especially as a middle - it's made me stronger to read things better and see the level that we can actually go to."
The Gee-Gees' historic run at the championship finished abruptly and was marred by the injury of OUA Player of the Year Karina Krueger Schwanke. The offensive leader of the team collapsed to the court midway through the second set, silencing the arena after scoring the sixteenth point of the set for Ottawa.
The last play that Schwanke was a part of helped the Gee-Gees pull within one of the Spartans after they had opened an 18-14 lead. Ottawa rallied valiantly to finish the set with a score of 25-20 thanks to fine defence which forced Trinity Western into a series of errors.
Krueger Schwanke reappeared on crutches and joined her team mates on the bench for the start of the third set. Although Ottawa initially rebounded well from the shock of seeing their leading scorer go down, as the third set wore on it became clear that Schwanke's absence could not be overcome.
Kelsie English continued to swing well from the right side, but with the big Spartan blockers now focussing on her, Ottawa found scoring difficult. English led the Gee-Gees with 8.5 points in the match, earning player of the match honours.
The Gee-Gees hung with Trinity Western until the 6-5 mark, but then hit the wall. The Spartans went on a 14-2 run which was fuelled by Ottawa errors and kills from outside hitter Amy Ott. Ottawa used their final timeout at 20-8 and ended the Spartan's spree by scoring four of the next five points, highlighted by an ace from Alix Durivage.
Cassie Gano of Trinity Western then stepped up to finish the match with a middle kill and a successful joust at the net. With the win, Trinity Western captured their second bronze medal in program history, equalling their best ever result.
The Spartans were led by their third-year outside hitter Amy Ott, who tallied 10.5 points on 8 kills. The Canada West conference finalists powered through the match with an overall attacking percentage of .407.
BOX SCORE
1 2 3
Ottawa 18 20 13
Trinity Western 25 25 25
