Volume 96, Issue 75
Thursday, February 12, 2003
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Volleyballers left out in the cold
By Rahim Bharmal
Gazette Staff
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Beth
Kerim/Gazette |
| I BELIEVE I CAN FLY, I BELIEVE I CAN KILL THIS BALL. A Western volleballer gives her rendition of the Shine-O Ball-O. The ball was not amused. |
This weekend was all
Yao and Yeo.
The "Yao" was Yao Ming, the Houston Rockets rookie giant from
China who started in his first ever NBA all-star game on Sunday. The "Yeo"
represents the Yeowomen from York University, who handily defeated the
Western Mustangs women's volleyball team on Saturday afternoon in three
straight sets (25-20, 25-17, 25-13) at Alumni Hall.
The Mustangs entered their final regular season game holding a 12-5 record
and left side star Lyn Christensen leading the Ontario University Athletics
conference with 5.20 points per game.
However, if Super Bowl XXXVII has taught us anything, it's that it doesn't
matter how strong your offense is if you're up against a top notch defense.
Many times throughout the game, it seemed the Mustangs would gain a point
off an attack, only to have the Yeowomen keep the play alive. The Yeowomen
displayed great blocking and their starting libero Bonnie Woo, the Warren
Sapp of their defense, was producing more impressive digs than Taye Diggs's
parents.
York's head coach Hernan Humana commented on his team's stellar defense.
"We're a very consistent team. [We're] able to keep the ball alive,
[which] frustrates most teams," he said.
With the win, York, the favourite to win the OUA Championship, finishes
their near perfect season atop the OUA with a 16-1 record, while the Mustangs
finish 12-6.
Now the Mustangs must focus their attention on the Wilfrid Laurier University
Golden Hawks, who will be their first round opponent in the playoffs.
Western beat Laurier 3-0 back on Nov. 8, before losing 3-1 on Jan. 29.
"We had server-receiving problems, [but] we did a bit of re-focusing
[and] they definitely won't beat us [this time]," said Christenson,
regarding the loss to Laurier.
With 10 first-year players, Western is considered a very young team. In
addition, the Mustangs may be without leading blocker Jameela Lencucha,
who has missed the last couple of games due to the passing of her mother.
Mustangs head coach Dean Lowrie commented on what Western will have to
do to beat Laurier.
"I think we're a better team than Laurier – we have to come
out and execute, and we're going to work on the things we weren't good
at today," he said.
Western hosts Laurier on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Alumni Hall.