CIS women's volleyball Friday roundup: 'Birds headed back to CIS championship after sweep of Bisons

The Gryphons, the first place team in the OUA West division with a 16-3 record will now play in the OUA final against the Western Mustangs who finished third in the OUA West at 15-4. The Final will take place on Saturday night (Feb. 26) at the W.F. Mitchell Centre at 8:00 p.m.

In the second match of the night, the Mustangs defeated the York Lions 3-0 to advance to the OUA final with set scores of 25-17, 25-21 and 25-13. The Gryphons and Mustangs split their season series this year. Guelph defeated Western 3-1 on Oct. 22 in London (25-17, 17-25, 25-16, 25-19) and then dropped a 3-2 final at the Mitchell Centre on Jan. 14. (17-25, 25-21, 25-17, 18-25, 15-13).

In the first set the Gryphons started well and opened an early lead. By the second technical timeout the Gryphons had the 16-11 advantage over Ottawa. Guelph maintained the margin before pulling away to later win 25-17.

In the second set, the Gryphons charged ahead. At the first technical timeout the Gryphons took an 8-2 lead and then moved into a convincing 12-4 lead behind great front-court play from Kylen Van Osch. Strong defence and serving enabled Ottawa to reverse the momentum in the middle of the set. The Gee-Gees battled back to get within four but Guelph would maintain their composure and secure the set victory 25-21.

A quick 6-2 lead in set three allowed Guelph to stay ahead through the middle and later stages as the Gryphons sealed the victory 25-17.

"We talked about getting a good start against Ottawa as they play with a lot of passion and we didn't want to let them get excited early on. Our blocking was extremely good tonight and it made the difference as we were able to keep Ottawa from building momentum," said head Paul Funk.

Kylen Van Osch led the offence with 13 points (12 kills, 1 block) while Erinn Bickle anchored the defense with 11 points (5 kills, 1 ace, 5 blocks). Brooke Lloyd (Whitby, Ont.) added 9 points (8 kills, 1 block). Guelph player of the game was setter Melissa McGinn who tallied 29 assists in total.

Ottawa was led by Kayla Bell Hommond (North Gower, Ont.) with 10 points (7 kills, 3 aces) and Myriam English with seven kills.

The Gryphons will now advance to the OUA Championship Final on Saturday (Feb. 26) at 8:00 p.m. in the W.F. Mitchell Athletic Centre. The Gryphons will play the Western Mustangs who defeated the York Lions in the other semifinal 3-0 tonight. Meanwhile the Gee-Gees will play in the consolation game at 6:00 p.m. against the York Lions at the Mitchell Centre.

Source: Guelph Sports Info

With the victory, the Spartans advance to the Canada West gold medal match, which will be played Saturday, Feb. 26 at 5:30 p.m. PST at the War Memorial Gym in Vancouver, and will face the winner of Friday's other semifinal between UBC and Manitoba. And with the top three Canada West teams earning a berth at nationals, Friday's win automatically sends TWU to the championship tournament at Laval.

The loss for Alberta puts them in the Canada West Bronze medal game Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at UBC against the loser of the Manitoba versus UBC game. The winner of the Bronze medal game will also go to nationals.

On a day when Spartans coach Ryan Hofer was named Canada West Coach of the Year, the TWU coach led his team to a dominating performance that, after dropping the third set, was emphasized with a 25-12 fourth set win.

Trinity Western was led by Canada West First Team All-Star Kara Jansen Van Doorn, who had 21 kills on the night, Canada West Rookie of the Year Alicia Perrin, who finished with six kills and three blocks, and Canadian national team setter Lauren O'Reilly, who had 34 assists and a team-high 12 digs. Playing without starting libero Andrea Ball, the Spartans Jodi Neufeld filled in admirably with an 11-dig effort.

"We played with a lot of heart today. We're down our starting libero and Jodi Neufeld went in there and the team rallied around her. We played free, loose and just put together a really solid game," said TWU head coach Ryan Hofer. "Kara is absolutely essential to our team. She's a workhorse and we know she's going to get a lot of volume. Lauren O'Reilly did an outstanding job of getting her the ball at the right spots and Kara did great things with it."

Alberta was led by Tiffany Proudfoot, Jaki Ellis and Alyssa Jones who each had eight kills, and Erin Walsh, who had 13 digs. Ellis also had 19 assists while Jones had 16 assists.

For Trinity Western it will be their fourth appearance at the national tournament as they previously qualified in 2009, 2007 and 2006, with the Spartans best result being a fourth place finish in 2007.

The Spartans got off to a hot start in the opening set as they opened up an 8-4 advantage with Jansen Van Doorn leading the charge with three kills while Nicole Bazin contributing two. But the Pandas quickly got back in the match as they went on a 4-0 run to even the score 8-8.

But it was shortly thereafter when the Spartans took full control of the set. With TWU ahead 10-9 the Spartans went on a game-altering 6-1 run that gave them a 16-10 advantage and a lead they would take to 25 points.

Alberta managed to get within three points on two occasions, at 18-15 and then again at 19-16, but that was as close as the Pandas would come. After a kill by Amy Leschied, Chelsea Hudson was subbed in to serve and promptly went on a 5-0 run to finish the game at 25-16.

The second set proved to be very similar to the first as TWU built an 8-4 lead only to have Alberta traipse right back in it as they got themselves to within one at 11-10. But like the first set, the Spartans took the game over at the midway point, going on a 10-3 run, aided by a pair of latter-stage service aces from Jansen Van Doorn, to take a 21-13 lead.

From there the Spartans cruised to the finish line, taking the set 25-19 with a Chelsea Wand kill providing the final point.

In the third set, with Trinity Western only one set win away from a national championship berth, the Spartans got out to a quick lead, this time 7-3, but once again Alberta rallied.

The Pandas tied the game a 8-8 but instead of TWU pulling away in the middle stages, it was Alberta, led the blocking of Jenice Warkentin and Whitney Matheson, who staked itself to a 13-10 lead. And from there, the Pandas never relinquished their advantage, pulling away for a 25-18 win.

In the fourth set, the Spartans took an 8-2 lead into the first technical timeout but Alberta didn't go away. The Pandas roared back with a 6-1 run to make it 9-8 and put the set back in limbo.

But then TWU flexed its muscles.

The Spartans got five of the next seven points to give themselves a 14-10 advantage and then, after Alberta's Tiffany Proudfoot earned a kill to make it 14-11, TWU ended it. Led by seven straight serves from O'Reilly, TWU went on a 11-1 run to win 25-12. Wand got the winning kill that sent the Spartans to Laval.

With the TWU men's team assured a spot in the national tournament as the 2011 hosts, this marks the third time both men's and women's Spartans volleyball teams will participate in the national championship.

Match Notes: The Spartans had a 21.4 attacking percentage compared to Alberta's 13.1 per cent...TWU had 11 service aces while Alberta had six...both teams had eight blocks.

Source: Trinity Western Sports Info

The Mustangs will now play in the OUA final against the OUA West division leaders, Guelph Gryphons. The final will take place on Saturday night (Feb. 26) at the W.F. Mitchell Centre at 8:00 p.m.

In the first semifinal match of the night the Gryphons swept the Ottawa Gee Gees 3-0 (25-17, 25-21 and 25-17). The Gryphons and Mustangs split their season series this year. Guelph defeated Western 3-1 on Oct. 22 in London (25-17, 17-25, 25-16, 25-19) and then dropped a 3-2 final at the Mitchell Centre on Jan. 14. (17-25, 25-21, 25-17, 18-25, 15-13).

In the first set the Western Mustangs were up to the challenge from the start against the York Lions. It was close through to the first technical timeout where the Lions led 8-5, but the Mustangs charged back and took a convincing 16-11 lead by the second technical timeout. Western setter Jenna Thompson took charge of the court setting up great plays for the Mustangs and dumping several balls into York zones. Errors by York caused the Mustangs to continue their run and take the set 25-17. In the second set the Mustangs took a small lead to start but York battled back to get within two (11-9). By the second technical timeout the Mustangs took a 16-11 lead before increasing their lead to 20-11. At this point York battled back into the game with great defence and serving. The Lions went on a 9-3 run but the Mustangs powerful frontcourt was too much. Western finished with the 25-21 set win. Western's Elaine Screaton came alive in the second set scoring multiple hits for her team. The Mustangs were highly motivated for the third set and it showed early on as they jumped out to a commanding 16-4 lead and never looked back winning 25-13.

Leading the Western Mustangs in scoring was Elaine Screaton with 19 points (18 kills, 1 ace) while Sarah Johnson and Rebecca Oxland each contributed 11 points on the night.

York was led by Kristina Vlcek with 13 points (11kills, 2 blocks).

The Mustangs will now advance to the OUA Championship Final against the host Guelph Gryphons on Saturday (Feb. 26) at 8:00 p.m. in the W.F. Mitchell Athletic Centre. Meanwhile the Lions will play the Gee-Gees in the consolation game at 6:00 p.m. at the Mitchell Centre.

Source: Western Sports Info

After cruising through the first set on the strength of lights-out attacking from newly-crowned Canada West MVP Shanice Marcelle and Kyla Richey, the T-Birds ran into some trouble in the second set.

Kate Wasyliw led the Bisons on a 6-0 run to vault them into a 14-10 lead, and they continued to lead the 'Birds by about a four-point cushion until late in the set. A Lisa Barclay kill cut the score to 22-19, and then back-to-back Manitoba mistakes (a net error and a two-hit error) brought the home side to within one, igniting the crowd.

After Barclay tied the set up with another kill, Wasyliw scored two straight for the Bisons to put them up 24-22. Marcelle and Barclay answered on the next two points to again tie the set up, and a Mariah Bruinsma ace put UBC up 25-24. That set the table for Richey to come flying out of the back row on match point to find open court with a clever tip, completing the Thunderbird comeback.

"That was without question the turning point in the match," said UBC head coach Doug Reimer. "It doesn't matter what the score is in the first set - if it's one all, it's one all, and that's the nature of the sport. I thought we showed a lot of composure down the stretch there in the second set."

The second set win reenergized the T-Birds, and they made short work of the Bisons in the third set to punch their tickets to the Canada West finals and the CIS tournament.

Marcelle showed why she was the conference's most valuable player on Friday, racking up 12 kills on .440 hitting to go along with a game-high four aces.

"She's as good an all-around skill player as I can recall here at UBC, in every aspect of the game," Reimer said of his third-year outside hitter. "She showed that again tonight. She anchors our play in all regards."

Richey led the way with 14 kills and an unbelievable .565 hitting percentage. She also had seven digs and three block-assists. The Thunderbirds hit .405 as a team while holding the Bisons to a .146 hitting percentage.

Rachel Cockrell led Manitoba with eight kills. Kristi Hunter had six and Tricia Mayba chipped in five.

The Bisons now face a crucial test in the Canada West bronze medal game tomorrow against Alberta. The winner will earn the conference's third and final CIS tournament berth, and with no at-large bids up for grabs, the loser's season will be over. They will clash at War Memorial Gym beginning at 3:30 p.m.

The T-Birds will take on the Trinity Western Spartans in the gold medal game at 5:30 p.m. Both teams are already assured a spot at nationals, but if a shot at the Canada West title doesn't get UBC fired up, revenge for the Spartans breaking their 40-game win streak at the beginning of the season should do the trick.

"We've had great battles with Trinity over the years and many of our players have played on the same club teams," Reimer said. "Motivation won't be a problem."

Source: UBC Sports Info