Gee-gees riding high for nationals
Exciting victory in OUA women’s volleyball final boosts players’ spirits, confidence
Ottawa Gee-Gees volleyball players really, truly rode in a bus to travel to Sherbrooke, Que., on Tuesday.
However, they may still have felt as if they floated there, having not yet really come back to earth since winning the Ontario University Athletics women’s volleyball championship last Saturday to earn the team’s first berth at nationals since 2007.
“We’ve been on cloud nine ever since it happened,” says Myriam English, a third-year left-side hitter.
“We just look at each other and smile. No words needed. We just know we’ve accomplished something big.
“But we haven’t accomplished anything yet because our next goal is finishing high at nationals. Top four anyway.”
Actually, Myriam, isn’t the point of it all to try to claim U of O’s first Canadian Interuniversity Sport volleyball championship?
“I want to win nationals,” she responds quickly. “I know we can.” The Gee-Gees won the OUA final the hard way: After beating the host York Lions 25-23 and 27-25 in the first two sets, the Gee-Gees lost 25-14 and 25-18 and fell behind 10-6 in the deciding set, which only went to 15.
Head coach Lionel Woods called timeout at that point.
Whatever he said worked because the Gee-Gees prevailed 15-13, not that English can recall what Woods said or the points that followed.
“It was all focus,” she says. “People were telling me pointers of the fifth set, and I can’t remember them. It’s really bad to say, but we were such in a zone. We really wanted that game so bad and we came through when we needed to.”
The Gee-Gees are ranked third among the eight teams at Sherbrooke. Woods says it’s the highest any OUA team has been seeded in a generation or more.
The University of British Columbia Thunderbirds are No. 1, with good reason: They’re five-time defending champions.
On Wednesday evening, UBC’s Shanice Marcelle claimed CIS player of the year honours over Ottawa’s Karina Krueger Schwanke, Sherbrooke’s Roxanne Hasseni and Saint Mary’s Ariel Smith.
Krueger Schwanke was, however, named a first-team all-Canadian.