Volume 96, Issue 78
Tuesday, February 18, 2003
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
HOME
PHOTO GALLERY
COMICS
SUBMIT LETTER
CONTESTS
ADVERTISING
VOLUNTEERS
ABOUT US
ARCHIVES
LINKS
'Stangs stumble, but win
By
Ryan Hickman
Gazette Staff
 |
Allen
Chen/Gazette |
| LET US OUT. The women volleyballers took it to Laurier and then proceeded to invent a new dance craze. There's the bad joke I was looking for. |
Dean Lowrie's eyebrows
leaned in to his fiery eyes when he barked for a time-out in the third
set.
The Western women's volleyball team came out of the time-out in the third
set on Saturday afternoon and didn't look back while rolling over Wilfrid
Laurier University 3-1 (25-23, 14-25, 25-18, 25-11) at Alumni Hall.
"I said don't watch this team go to the semi-finals. Fight for every
point," Lowrie, western's head coach, explained, concerning what
he told his team during the third set time-out.
The first set was tight, but Western's left side, Lyn Christensen, the
country's leading offensive player, pumped home a back-row kill to end
the set.
In the second set, a different team came out for Western, and Laurier
started to control the flow of play. After going down 16-9 to the Golden
Hawks, Western setter Lauren Cosentino was substituted for Sarah Wilson.
The switch didn't ignite any change in momentum and the Mustangs' confidence
waned. They eventually lost the set 25-14.
Laurier, a substantially smaller team than Western up and down the lineup,
came out in the third set with the confidence of the convincing win from
the previous set, jumping out to a 14-10 lead before Lowrie called the
time-out.
"I think we let them off the hook," said Laurier head coach
Dave McIntrye after the match concerning his team letting Western back
into the match after looking like they had the momentum in the third set.
"With our small size, we have to be good on the first contact and
if we don't, it makes them even taller," McIntrye said.
After the time-out, Western reeled off five straight points, demonstrating
the superiority in size and skill they had over Laurier, who did put some
trepidation into the Mustangs.
"They put a hint of worry in us," said Western captain Jessica
Powell about Laurier during the second set. "But I never felt that
we were to going to lose."
Lowrie echoed the sentiments of his captain regarding the perseverance
of his veteran leadership.
"With a couple of our vets, I saw it in Lyn and Jess's face that
they wouldn't let [us lose]," Lowrie said regarding constant winning
swagger of his upper year players when morale dipped for his squad.
The throttling right-armed swing of Western's Lyn "Killer" Christensen
started to overwhelm the Golden Hawks, as she drilled laser beams throughout
Laurier's side of the court with ease. Western's blocking at the net tightened
up with middle Kyla Simpson, Christensen and first-year middle Catherine
Nowierski forming a virtual blocking shield.
Western heads to the OUA semi-finals on Friday against York University,
a team they struggled with earlier this season.