THUNDER BAY – LU SPORTS – Another day and another tough win for the Lakehead women’s volleyball team, as they narrowly defeated the Windsor Lancers 3-2 on Saturday evening (20-25, 25-22, 25-23, 26-28, 15-11). With the victory they move to 2-0 on the season.
Both teams were stretched to the absolute limit on this day, trading spike for spike and dig for dig, Lakehead using some heroics in the late stages of the match to pull out the win. Such was the 3rd set, when Lakehead trailed 22-19 and looked down and out. Following a timeout the ‘Wolves rolled off a 6-1 run to go ahead 2 sets to 1.
Windsor returned the favour in the fourth set, this time Lakehead leading 24-22 before the Lancers mounted a late rally, forcing extra points and eventually took the set.
Just as they did on Friday, the ‘Wolves found a way to win the 5th and deciding set to remain undefeated in regular season play.
Jorie Daymond and Jen Casey led Lakehead in kills, scoring 15 and 12, respectively. Daymond added 8 digs, a block and an ace to her line. Libero Breanne Hilhorst made 15 digs, while setter Sara Hudson made 47 assists in the win.
For the Lancers, Shannon Dean was big at the net, scoring 21 points (15 kills, 6 blocks). Setter Danielle Lenarduzzi made 39 assists, while libero Hannah Robson made 11 digs.
Coach Chris Green said, “Tonight, was a game we had to win. Especially after last night, the 2nd night is about making adaptations and executing a few new wrinkles into the plan. For the most part we did. We made some adjustments, and they were the right ones, but the girls have worked so hard in the past few weeks, that they struggled to finish tonight. I am proud of their fight through the fatigue, another 5 setter.”
“I’m proud of all the girls work from the bench through to the starters. All the recovery they showed with small breaks from the floor and re-entering to perform well. This work tonight is a testament to all the trust they have in each other. I also was happy with the girls ability to focus through all the distractions. There were many reasons they could have been distracted, but we stayed focused on our side and stayed on task with what we had to do. We tell them all the time to not fret over what they have no control over. The next play, the next point, that is what you control. They did a good job of that tonight.”
“I felt Sarah Hudson worked very hard tonight moving the ball around to a tired group. And Breanne Hilhorst worked through an upper body injury to make some great plays. We are very proud of Jorie Daymond as well for making her return to play a positive one tonight, another step forward. We as a staff are proud of each of them.”
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