Two-game stretch at St. James ends on positive note

Despite going 0-2 over their recent home stand, all isn’t woe and despair for George Brown’s women’s volleyball team (3-11).

With that said, matters didn’t exactly look sunny after a Jan. 25 straight-sets loss (17-25, 11-25, 23-25) to the Loyalist Lancers. Featuring a record of 11-4, the Lancers presented a stiff challenge, but it was the way George Brown lost which was disconcerting.

“We kind of went back to the first half of our season tonight,” said Huskies middle Nicole Poupart. “The first two sets definitely did not reflect what we’ve been doing in practice and what the second half of the season has been. I don’t think it’s a very good reflection of what we’ve actually been able to accomplish as a team.”

After a sloppy first set with numerous unforced errors gave Loyalist momentum, the Lancers rolled to a decisive 25-11 second set victory. The home side showed more life in the third, displaying the cleaner, crisper brand of volleyball played in recent tilts. Overall however, the loss felt like a regression, if not a classic example of ‘burn the tape’.

“We did speak about that post-game and really, tomorrow’s training we’re just going to come out, forget about tonight, focus on what’s ahead,” Huskies assistant coach Lesley Lovell said when asked about falling into negativity. “The rest of the season, we’ll continue to work on recognizing that they are all good volleyball players and can play this sport, and just needing them to believe in it a little more themselves.”

It wasn’t long before the Huskies again found themselves on the court, this time facing down the Seneca Sting (7-7) on Jan. 27. Sometimes the cure for a sub-par performance is a quick turnaround, and that seemed to hold true for George Brown.

While it’s odd to describe another 3-0 (16-25, 14-25, 20-25) loss as a bounce back effort, George Brown made Seneca earn every point in a way they hadn’t with Loyalist two days prior.

“Huge difference,” Huskies head coach Dana Cooke said about her team’s performance. “There’s games that you play, such as this one where even though you lose, it doesn’t carry the same weight as a bad loss. I consider this a good loss for a few reasons, because we turned around and came out a very different team from Wednesday.”

Moving forward, the team has two away games on the docket, their next tilts being Jan. 31 at Georgian (9-5), followed by Feb. 5 at Canadore (5-9). Which Huskies women’s volleyball team shows up, the one from Jan. 25 or from Jan. 27, remains to be seen.

For what it’s worth, the road has been kinder to George Brown this season, with two of the squad’s three wins coming away from St. James. After Friday’s match, Cooke spoke of the pressures of playing at home, an idea which Huskies outside hitter Tiana Samuels echoed.

“Less pressure, in the sense where you don’t have familiar faces or spectators or people to judge you,” said Samuels. “For me personally, I like away games better, just because I don’t have that additional pressure.”