Christina Strynatka
Contributor
With the entire game on the line, the York women’s volleyball team fed on the pressure of coming back from an early 2-0 Brock lead and outplayed their opponents, winning their first game 3-2 Oct. 22.
The players on the York Lions women’s volleyball team are making their goal to go deeper into the playoffs and make 2010-2011 the season they bring home the cham- pionship title.
The squad got their first game of the season rolling Oct. 22 in the Tait Mackenzie Centre against the visiting Brock Badgers. It was a fierce battle between the two squads: the match went to five sets with a nail-biting score of 15-12 for the final set.
As they began the first set, the women were a bit shaky, out-matched by the Badgers in fierce strikes (or kills) over the net, but they lost their momentum in the amount of errors the team made. The Badgers took advantage and won the first set handily, winning 25-21.
The drought would continue as the York players lost their positions and let numerous points slip from their reach, handing the Badgers their second set, 26-24.
The team was on the verge of losing in a packed gym full of enthusiastic fans, so head coach Nick Tran reminded the girls what needed to be done. York would lose their home opener in the next set if the team did not step up to their opponents’ level, and the odds were definitely against York. The comeback for the girls came only after the third set began and the Lions dug deep, scrambled hard to earn every point, and put on quite the show for the spectators. The score was 9-5 in favour of Brock until key players Kristina Vlcek and Brandie Wilkerson hit the ball straight down into their opponent’s court. Together both players worked in grabbing the third set by a close lead of 26-24.
Vlcek and Wilkerson dominated the game against the Badgers, rapidly winning the fourth set with their team, making the final set the tie-breaker. The girls handled themselves well and took every bit of what they learned in practice to catch up to their rivals. The team regrouped with experienced players like Sarah Sutton, who has been a part of the team for five years. Rookie player Wilkerson played one of the best games in the home opener, finishing with 18 kills, one error and 44 attacks.
Though the season is still uncertain, these girls have proved very early on that perseverance will win in the end.
