THUNDER BAY – Sports Chris Green’s volleyball squad was defeated on Saturday evening, although they did treat fans to an impressive display of athleticism and skill in taking the 3-1 loss to the Brock Badgers (25-21, 25-27, 21-25, 17-25). Lakehead rallied hard in the first set to surprise the visitors who led 20-17 before Lakehead took control of the first set with outstanding defense at the net and in the back court. Over the entire match, it was evident that many Thunderwolves were playing their best volleyball of the season.
Jorie Daymond had 19 points (15 kills, 4 service aces) to lead the Pack in scoring and also dug up 14 Brock attacks. Michelle Cournoyer had her best game of the season with 7 kills, 6 digs and 3 blocks. Libero Breanne Hilhorst had 27 digs.
Rachel Roorda was Brock’s leader with 17 points (13 kills, 3 blocks, 1 service ace) and Lucy McLay had 12 kills and 6 digs. Setter Ally Fast had 36 assists.
As a team Lakehead had 73 digs compared to Brock’s 41, and had 170 total attacks to Brock’s 129.
Coach Chris Green was steadfast in drawing the positives from this match. “Tonight many good things happened. Take the result away, which is vital but take it away and watch the confidence in how our ladies played. Many of the things we wanted to do we did. As the match wore on, so did the mental part of us staying focused. With young players, this will happen. I am proud of how we played, We may be 0-11, but we are growing. For a young group, that is so important. We defended our court tonight. We played with courage, fight and passion. Michelle Cournoyer had her best performance as a Thunderwolf in her 5 years. We have so much to build off. We will watch the tape and make notes and train smart again this week and work to defend our court against a very strong Queens team. I can’t thank our fans enough! I believe that many here tonight witnessed an exciting game. Now we need to reward ourselves with more performances like this and finish off games.”
The women are at home again next weekend, to host Queen’s for a weekend series, Saturday and Sunday afternoons.