The national rankings were released Tuesday following another strong performance from the team in tournament play, this time at Queen's. On Friday, the Gee-Gees faced a tough AUS opponent in the Dalhousie Tigers and prevailed 3-1. Dalhousie is a powerhouse team in the AUS conference, as they finished with a sterling 14-3 record last season. And on Saturday, the Gee-Gees squared off against the Queen's Gaels in a rematch of last season's OUA championship game and won 3-1.
The Gee-Gees won their first two sets against Dalhousie 25-19 and 25-17, thanks to their usual style of aggressive serving, blocking, and attacking, which gave their opponents fits. Third-year left side hitter Myriam English excelled in particular against the Tigers. Though Dalhousie fought back to prevent a sweep in the third set, Ottawa was able to win the fourth set in convincing fashion, 25-18.
"The Queen's gym is a server's gym for sure and at times I thought both teams struggled in passing as a result, but I was pleased with our team's focus as they played set four like it was a fifth set and closed it out in strong fashion," explained Gee-Gees head coach Lionel Woods.
And in their final preseason game of the 2012-13 season, the Gee-Gees took on the Queen's Gaels, the team that edged out Ottawa for OUA gold last season. Last February, Queen's beat the Gee-Gees 3-1 at Montpetit Hall to take the lone OUA berth at the CIS championships. Coincidentally, the road team won again this time around, also by a 3-1 final score, with the Gee-Gees winning 25-20, 25-15, 18-25, 25-23.
Ottawa was at a significant disadvantage against Queen's, as injuries left the Gee-Gees with only nine healthy players for the match. Similar to the Dalhousie game, Ottawa won the first two sets before coming up short in the third frame. In the fourth and final set, Ottawa trailed 23-20 but won five straight points off the serving of fourth-year setter Christina Grail. Grail was named the Gee-Gees Player of the Match against Queen's.
"Today was a great way to finish the preseason with a match against a great in-conference rival and I was very pleased with the determination we found, especially in the fourth set," said Woods.
The Gee-Gees will finally start their regular season this weekend when they travel west to face the Windsor Lancers and the Western Mustangs, October 20 to 21.
CIS TOP 10 COACHES' POLL ( WEEK OF OCT. 16, 2012)¨
1 - UBC
2 - TRINITY WESTERN ¨
3 - ALBERTA
4 - LAVAL ¨
TIED 5TH - UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO ¨
TIED 5TH - MANITOBA ¨
7 - OTTAWA¨
8 - CALGARY ¨
9 - DALHOUSIE ¨
10 - SHERBROOKE
