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QUARTER-FINAL #2: CIS championship: Laval surprises Regina, to meet No. 1 UBC in semis
Courtesy of University of Alberta sports information
EDMONTON (CIS) – For the second year in a row the Laval Rouge
et Or have upset a higher-seeded Canada West opponent in the
opening round of the CIS women’s volleyball championship. The
fifth-ranked Quebec finalists shocked the No. 4 Regina Cougars in
straight sets (25-21, 25-21, 25-19) in the second quarter-final
match of the 2010 tournament at the University of Alberta’s
Main Gym, Friday afternoon.
Championship website (live webcasts): http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/wvball
Highlights
CIS WVBall - Match 2 Post
Game
Second-team all-Canadian Mélanie Savoie of St-Slyvestre,
Que., had a superb day for the Rouge et Or, finishing with match
highs in kills (12), aces (3) and digs (14). The Canadian national
team member was the Laval player of the match, while middle Karine
Ducharme chipped in with eight kills and a .540 attack
percentage.
“Mélanie’s our captain, and she led us
today,” stated Rouge et Or Coach Alain Pelletier, whose
troops opened the 2009 national championship with a four-set upset
of No. 3 Trinity Western as the sixth seed, en route to a
fourth-place finish. “She made really good reads today, and
made really strong decisions.”
Regina’s Beth Clark, also a member of the second CIS all-star
squad, banked eight kills, one ace, four digs and three combined
blocks in a strong effort. The Cougars’ Kaitlyn Hughes, a
sophomore outside hitter from Regina, led her team in kills with
nine.
Laval never trailed at any point in the match, using strong starts
in every set and riding that momentum to victory.
“Ball control is one of our strengths, and we did that very
well today. We also moved the ball on offense very well, and we
never made the same pass, or the same play two-times
in-a-row,” explained the third-year Laval coach.
The Rouge et Or opened the match with a 4-0 advantage, a trend that
would continue throughout the afternoon, but slowly the Cougars
chipped away at the lead, drawing to within one point twice, but,
each time finding away to kill their own momentum and allow Laval
to regain a strong lead.
After picking up a 16-12 lead, Laval never looked back in the first
set, winning by the same four points they started with, 25-21.
“We got off to a slow start, and could never fully recover
from the deficit,” lamented veteran Regina coach Melanie
Sanford.
“That seemed to haunt us throughout the first set for sure,
and really, throughout the entire match. We just get over that
four-point lead.”
After a close start to the second stanza the Rouge et Or, making
their 29th appearance at the last 31 national championships, opened
up another four-point lead, 11-7, and stayed ahead with that gap
until Regina’s Megan Onstad cut the score to 19-16, and
eventually 19-17.
However, another Cougar mistake, this time at the service line,
gave Laval a 20-17 advantage, which soon became 22-18, and
eventually 25-21.
Riding high and close to a second consecutive Canada West upset,
the Rouge et Or started the third and final frame with a familiar
5-1 lead.
Facing a 16-13 deficit, the Cougars came within one point of tying
the match, but committed an attack error to give the No. 5 Rouge et
Or a two-point gap.
After several minutes of rally, Savoie absolutely buried a powerful
kill into the Regina back court for a 21-17 lead, which soon became
a final at 25-19.
The win propels Laval into Saturday’s first semifinal at 6:30
p.m. Mountain Time against the two-time defending champion UBC
Thunderbirds, who dominated Saint Mary’s in straight sets
earlier Friday.
The duel will be a rematch of last year’s semifinal round in
Fredericton when UBC prevailed 25-19, 25-22, 25-22 en route to its
second straight CIS title.
“We know that we’re going to play UBC in the next
round, which is same pattern as last year,” said Pelletier.
“You know, last year we played a very good opening game
against Trinity Western, and then it was really tough against UBC,
but I think we missed some opportunities against them, so we want
to give them a harder time this year.”
Regina, making their first appearance at nationals since 2000 and
only the third one in program history, will meet No. 8 Saint
Mary’s in the first consolation semifinal Saturday at 1 p.m.
MST.
CHAMPIONSHIP
SCHEDULE & RESULTS (all times LOCAL: Mountain Time)
Friday, March 5
Quarter-final #1: No. 1 UBC 3, No. 8 Saint Mary’s 0 (25-17,
25-17, 25-13)
Quarter-final #2: No. 5 Laval 3, No. 4 Regina 0 (25-21, 25-21,
25-19)
18:30 Quarter-final #3: No. 3 Manitoba vs. No. 6 Toronto (SSN
Canada webcast)
20:00 Quarter-final #4: No. 2 Montreal vs. No. 7 Alberta (SSN
Canada webcast)
Saturday, March 6
13:00 Consolation #1: No. 8 Saint Mary’s vs. No. 4 Regina
14:30 Consolation #2: Loser quarter-final #3 vs. Loser
quarter-final #4
18:30 Semi-final #1: No. 1 UBC vs. No. 5 Laval (SSN Canada
webcast)
20:00 Semi-final #2: Winner quarter-final #3 vs. Winner
quarter-final #4 (SSN Canada webcast)
Sunday, March 7
12:00 5th place
15:00 Bronze medal (SSN Canada webcast)
18:00 Championship final (SSN Canada webcast)
-CIS-
