Box Score The Warriors women's volleyball team was hosting their second game in two nights as they welcomed the Nipissing Lakers to RIM Park. Waterloo fell 3-1 (21-25, 25-11, 21-25, 21-25) after making team errors and being unable to capitalize on free possessions.
In the opening set, Waterloo was looking to avenge a 3-0 loss to York the night previous. Neither team could establish an offensive rhythm early and it seemed like a game in that whichever team made the fewest mistakes came out on top. Waterloo had 6 kills in the opening set to Nipissing's 14 which was the difference as Waterloo dropped the 1
st set 25-21.
The 2
nd set was a much different story as the Warriors would jump out to an early 10-7 lead, capitalizing off some solid decision-making by setter
Emily Needles (Thorndale). Waterloo forced Nipissing into a timeout at 11-7 but it did not seem to faze Waterloo. Waterloo had a solid .269 attacking percentage en route to even the match at 1 after a commanding 25-11 victory.
The celebrations were short lived, however, as both teams would finally settle into the game and exchange short runs before the Lakers took a 16-12 lead at the technical timeout. Waterloo would take a timeout at 18-13 but it was too-little, too-late as Waterloo eventually fell 25-21 to fall to 1-2 on the match.
In the fourth and potentially deciding set, Nipissing seemed determined to close out the match. Long rallies turned the match into a war of attrition and seeing who could outlast the other. Warriors jumped out to an early 15-11 lead but forfeited 4 straight points to knot the game at 15. Poor passing from both sides made it difficult to run a smooth offence and this ultimately benefitted the Lakers. Waterloo would take a timeout down 20-18 to try and rally but it was not meant to be. The black and gold would eventually lose by a familiar score of 25-21 to lose the match 3-1 to a strong Lakers squad.
Waterloo moves to 1-2 and will hit the road next weekend and play Western on Friday and Windsor on Saturday. Warriors will return home on Saturday, November 8 to host the Queen's Gaels at 6pm at the PAC.
Standouts for the Warriors were
Natasha Spaling (Drayton) and
Kayla Wierts (Drayton) who each had 11 kills. Spaling added 4 assisted blacks and 3 service aces while Wierts added 15 digs.
Emily Needles (Thorndale) had 34 assists in a losing battle.
Kristen Bartmann (Uxbridge) was strong on defence collecting a team high 21 digs in the loss.
