The St. Thomas University volleyball teams walked away with a win and a loss on Feb. 2 after the women’s team beat the Dalhousie Agricultural Campus Rams 3-1 and the men’s team lost to the Holland College Hurricanes 3-2.
In the first and second set of the women’s game, the Tommies established an early lead, going on to win both sets 25-10.
The Tommies took a small lead in the beginning of the third set, but both teams fought back-and-forth, keeping the score tight throughout. After a hard fight, the Tommies tied it up 24-24, but the Rams got the extra two points to win the set 26-24.
The fourth set started with a close score too with neither team having more than a three-point lead for the first half of the set. The Tommies were then able to take the lead and win the set 25-18 and the game 3-1.
Head coach Don McKay said the team wasn’t happy with how the last set played out, despite winning the game.
“We didn’t stay with the same focus in the third set. We made some substitutions, but we just had too many unforced errors so we went back to more of the starters in the last [set] and we moved Mija [Macdonald] from libero into right side to give that a shot. She did admirably well, so we may do more with that going forward,” said McKay.
“But it was good fun. The girls played hard and at the end of the day, that’s all you can ask.”
The men’s game saw the Hurricanes take an early lead. The Tommies worked hard to catch up, but the Hurricanes kept their lead and won the set 25-23.
The Tommies were slow to start, but took a lead in the second set which they won 25-17.
The third set was point-for-point in the first half with neither team having more than a three-point lead. The Tommies slowly started to build a lead, but the Hurricanes caught up. After a hard fight, the Tommies took the set 30-28.
The fourth set was back-and-forth with the Hurricanes keeping a slight lead throughout most of it. Despite the Tommies’ efforts to come back and win it, the Hurricanes kept their lead and won the set 25-21.
The fifth set saw quick points made by both teams, but the Hurricanes won the final set 16-14 and the game 3-2.
Head coach Henri Mallet was impressed with the effort from the team after playing one of the better teams in the league.
“They’re the team to beat even though we’re in first place,” said Mallet.
“It really just came down that our passing kind of broke down at key moments and they were serving tough and they’re putting those tough serves and they put us in trouble … we’re looking forward to a rematch when we go down there in a couple weeks.”
