Our women’s Volleyball team is dominating, but they still need to be wary of a few things
Daniel Rependa
Staff Writer
@excalweb
Out of all the York sports teams this season, the women’s volleyball team has established themselves as one of the most dominant ones. They have only two games left in their season and are sitting with a record of 14-2 and a win percentage of .875. This puts them in first place in the OUA (Ontario University Athletics) and 10th place in the CIS (Canadian Inter-univeristy Sport).
Now, although York is ranked 10th in Canada (which is pretty sweet for us Lions fans), they still have an OUA championship to win before they start thinking about nationals. And what is a 14-2 season really worth if you cannot pull off a championship win in the end? It sounds like a repeat of the New England Patriots this year in the Super Bowl. What I’m trying to say is that it’s okay to be happy that we are first place in the OUA. However, we cannot lose focus for the post-season, when anything can happen.
As good as the Lions have been, they haven’t proven themselves to be absolutely invincible. They have two regular season losses and a couple of unrecorded tournament and pre-season losses, one of which was to a team in the OUA (Ottawa Gee-Gee’s). This means that just one game without focus could cost us the championship we’ve been so fervently seeking this year, and put a perfectly good season to waste.
We are definitely not the tallest team in the league (a problem for both the men’s and women’s volleyball teams this season) so we definitely have to watch out for big hands at the net this post-season. However, I think it’s fair to say we make up for this with our team’s athleticism, smart play, and magnificent coaching staff.
For example, this season the Lions have looked absolutely solid on their defence and move to cover areas of the court like a giant amoeba. Their team fluidity and “in-game smarts,” with respect to playing the ball defensively is phenomenal. Also, their relatively new head coach, Nick Tran, seems to be taking the league by storm as he leads this Lions team to the number one position in the OUA. (Perhaps, OUA coach of the year?)
The point of highlighting these strengths and weaknesses though is to show that the majority of the Lions’ game is dependent upon their smart gameplay and team fluidity. This means they cannot afford to lose focus.
We are a phenomenal team this year, there is no doubting it. We have two more games left in the season and they are both at home where the Lions sit with a perfect record. However, now is not the time to be celebrating. Now is the time for these ladies to put on the meanest faces they have got and show the rest of the OUA why they are first in Ontario and why they deserve to go to the CIS championships.
