The UTM women’s volleyball team played against St. George on a quiet afternoon last Sunday.
It was clear from the first serve of the first set that St. George Black wanted to win this game more. UTM got off to a slow start in each set and found themselves playing from behind throughout the whole game.
The first set was close. St. George started off with strong serves that UTM found hard to return. The Eagles struggled with their digs and couldn’t get their offensive players in a good enough position to score points. St. George, on the other hand, played efficiently; they dug the ball out of tough positions and set up their players in good positions.
St. George built a comfortable 16–9 lead, which forced UTM’s coach, Anthony Gilroy, to call a timeout. This timeout seemed to give some life to the Eagles, and they went on a 7–2 run of their own that allowed them to cut the lead down to two points. But St. George held their composure and won the first set, 25–21.
The second set was a set of runs by both teams. It started off more like the first set, with St. George taking a quick 5–0 lead, but UTM responded with a 5–0 run to tie the game at 5–5. Then St. George turned it around again with an 8–2 run that deflated the UTM team. The Eagles were getting outhustled St. George; their spikes were going out of bounds, and St. George got a few blocks on defence. A late surge by UTM brought them close, but the second set ended at 25–19.
The third set went the same way the first two sets did, with St. George starting off with a big lead and UTM lacking the firepower to bring themselves back into the game. As the set wound down, it was clear that St. George were having fun on this trip to Mississauga. The third set ended with a score of 25–14.
St. George controlled the game from the get-go, and they held their composure throughout to close out UTM in the straight sets.
After the game, both coaches spent time talking to their teams. “Today wasn’t our best game,” Gilroy told the UTM team. “We started off slow each set. We tried to stay in the game as much as we could, but we couldn’t. Our passing let us down today, but we’ll go right back to practice and work on it.”
The Eagles came out ready to play, but it just wasn’t their day. They hope to qualify for the playoffs, and this loss will dampen their hopes a little bit.
