After a dominant showing leading up to the co-ed extramural volleyball team’s showdown in the finals against Humber College, the Golden Hawks couldn’t defeat the Humber Hawks.
Laurier won all of their games in round robin play to start the tournament, en route to a first place finish in their pool and by into the semifinals, which they won. Laurier then gave all they could in the final against the Hawks. After losing the first game 25-21, they won the second game handily, 25-18, to force a third tie-breaking game, but lost 15-12.
This result is not something new for the co-ed volleyball team, who were handed the same fate in the tournament at Redeemer last year; something Co-captain Brian Kloet says is very frustrating and all that stood between them and victory was better defensive play. “They have just as good or better hitters than us, so if we out defend them, then we will win,” Kloet explains. “Which is exactly how we beat them in the second set and then in the third we were winning until our defense broke down.”
Although this was not the result to start the year Kloet and the team wanted, there are many positives pointing them in the right direction. He and the team pride themselves on their offensive abilities, something most of the squads there can’t match. “One of the keys to our success was having a diverse offence,” Kloet says. “A lot of other teams have one or two people that could hit well, but on our team we have five hitting options so it just worked a lot better.”
Not only are they quality options, but they are also five hitting options that have played together before. “Being a pretty closely knit team both help a lot. Wouldn’t say we are a veteran group, but we are all quite comfortable playing together, as most of us have been playing together for two or three years now.”
This camaraderie goes deeper than just being able to play well together on the court; every player on the co-ed volleyball team has a strong desire to win and Dave Porebski wasn’t going to let a foot injury stop him. Kloet and co-captain, Tiffany Gallant, were both impressed with his play throughout the tournament.
Even after the final points were lost, leaving Redeemer with silver and an unblemished record heading into the final match to start off the year is promising. The Golden Hawks were only a few more defensive holds away from the gold. The team, currently, is preparing to enter another tournament in January and hopefully another rematch with Humber College.
