After a messy first set, George Brown took control
In a difficult season for George Brown women’s volleyball, Saturday’s home game saw the Huskies show off what growth there’s been.
The Huskies (4-13) snapped a six-game losing streak by defeating the La Cite Coyotes (0-17) in straight sets (25-23, 25-15, 25-18), completing a season sweep of their opponent in the process. Which isn’t to say the win was an easy one, with the first set being a back-and-forth affair full of unforced errors on both sides.
“The game plan was to play our game, to be a team, to work as a team, that was our big plan for today,” said Coyotes middle Frédéricke Beaulne-Seguin. “For the first set, we were in it, we were cheering, we were a team and it felt great. The second set, we let go of it”.
Just as the second set was looking to be more of the same, George Brown seized control. Playing the tighter, crisper passing and defensive game which 2017 has shown flashes of, the Huskies kept La Cite off-balance for much of the match’s remainder.
Once they tightened things up, @GBC_Huskies took off. Huskies win the second set 25-15 over @CoyotesdeLaCite. #DialogSports pic.twitter.com/eca1HeHf7O
— The Dialog (@DialogGBC) February 11, 2017
Huskies head coach Dana Cooke lauded her squad for serving tough and keeping the Coyotes out of system. Cooke has been preaching development all season long, an improvement demonstrated by George Brown’s embrace of the first set challenge. “We’ve built a lot of character,” said Cooke. “I think the fact is we’re starting to realize, even though it is late in the season, that we do have a lot of control over what the outcome of the game is”.
Cooke’s sentiment was echoed by Huskies middle Julia Vit, who racked up all of the host’s four stuff blocks, as well as eight kills on a team-high 20 total attacks. For a team which has often only stepped up once down a set or two, Vit described the value of not playing behind the eight ball.
“I think it’s so important, because it gave us the confidence of, ‘Wow, we can win this. We have this team, we’ve got them in our hands, we could absolutely beat them,'” said Vit.
What was already a difficult season for La Cite worsened in the new year, which left the Coyotes with only five athletes to begin the winter term. On a team flush with newly recruited first-years, Coyotes head coach Alain Cyr-Russo is focusing on fundamentals.
“It’s all about playing hard,” said Cyr-Russo. “Win or lose, I don’t care as long as we play hard. Honestly, I just want my team to focus, manage mistakes and just play their own game and have fun.”
.@GBC_Huskies win the third set 25-18 and the game 3-0 vs. @CoyotesdeLaCite. #DialogSports pic.twitter.com/q4cwHL1CT6
— The Dialog (@DialogGBC) February 12, 2017
