Vernon, Rams spike Lakers in women’s volleyball home opener

By Lucas Lee

The Ryerson women’s volleyball team scored a decisive victory over Lakehead University in their home opener, sweeping the visiting Thunderwolves three sets to none on Saturday night.

With the win, the Rams improve to a 2-0 record so far in the 2017-18 season.

Ryerson was led by senior middle blocker Theanna Vernon, who converted an incredible 10 out of 17 attack attempts for kills throughout the match.

The Thunderwolves were helpless as the Rams’ low sets gave them little time to set up to defend against Vernon’s high-velocity, high-impact hits. She was the only player from either team to log double-digit kills.

Vernon’s kill count was closely followed by freshman outside hitter Janelle Albert, who had a strong overall game, contributing nine kills to go along with a team-high nine digs.

Despite the performances of both Vernon and Albert, coach Dustin Reid named sophomore Cailin Wark as his team’s MVP on the day.

“When we had some challenges scoring on different parts of the floor, she was giving us consistent offense,” said Reid. “But it’s like asking me to pick my favourite child.”

Overall, Reid praised Ryerson’s performance, naming only one negative observation.

“We thought it would be easy to let the other team make an error,” said Reid. “But when the other team really started playing, we weren’t prepared for that.”

Reid himself had an excellent night at the Mattamy Athletic Centre, making two key decisions in the game that helped swing the momentum of the game in the Rams’ favour.

His introduction of freshman outside hitter Kelly Schaefer in the second set gave Ryerson an immediate boost of energy as she scored a point with her first touch of the ball.

In the third set, Reid called a timeout with the score locked at 7-7, which killed all the momentum the Thunderwolves were building. The timeout sparked a 6-1 run for the Rams, who eventually took the set 25-12.

Up Next: Reid and the team now have a week to prepare for their game on Nov. 5 against Trent University, a team the Rams swept in their both their matchups during the preseason.