The Conestoga Condors varsity volleyball teams made a strong home-game showing against Mohawk on Saturday. The men’s team won the match in three sets, while the women went to five, but ultimately lost.
After winning the first point, the women’s team went on to lose the first set 25-12. They clawed their way back into the game though, winning the next two sets 25-20, and 25-22. Unfortunately the last two sets didn’t go their way way and they lost 25-11 and 15-9.
“I’m really proud of how our athletes played today,” said women’s coach Haiqi-Liu. “They’ve really shown signs of growth in the season.”
“I think we played really hard. The fourth set kind of got to us a bit,” said first-year middle Natalie Walsh. “I think we fought really hard and we played really well.”
Despite the loss, Liu is happy with how the team has progressed. “We’re a very young team, with not a lot of club experience prior to playing in the OCAA,” he said. “We keep talking about improvement and what that means. You can improve a lot, but there is a certain threshold that you have to reach in order to really get the results you want when competing against good teams, such as Mohawk. We’re not quite there yet, but we’re going to keep chugging along, keep our noses on the grindstone and keep working hard.”
The defeat puts the women’s team record for the season at one win and seven losses.
The men’s team had a nail-biter of a first set, going point for point, before finally winning 28-26. They then won the next two sets 25-22 and 25-18.
“Very excited with the win,” said coach Wayne Harris. “They’re (Mohawk) a very scrappy, emotional team, and they’re very dangerous. They took the lead on us twice; we were able to claw back.”
“It was a very important win for us,” said second-year middle Eric Katerberg. “Going into our second semester, it’s kind of a must-win game for us.”
The team has been plagued by injury and illness, but they are “almost healthy now,” according to Harris.
“Next semester we get our big middle, Adam [Piazza], back,” said Katerberg. “So we’re excited to have a 100-per-cent healthy team next semester.”
Saturday’s victory was the fifth win of the season for the men’s team, giving them a record of five wins and three losses.
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