TORONTO — The Ryerson Rams overcame a slow start to claim a 3-1 (20-25, 25-18, 25-21, 25-18) win over the Windsor Lancers on Saturday evening at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto.
Ryerson's Lauren Veltman (Brampton, Ont.) led the team with 15 kills through four sets, while libero Brett Hagarty (Aurora, Ont.) totalled 15 digs in the match.
The Rams dished out a game-high eight errors in the first set, struggling to control the ball on their side of the court. The Lancers, led by second-year middle blocker Ally Winik, kept pushing and earned a 25-20 win over the Rams to kick off the match.
The home team played a more structured game in the second set thanks to a few lineup adjustments, highlighted by Hagarty's switch to libero for the second night in a row. The Rams totalled 11 kills on 24 attempts in the set, attacking at a game-high .333 percent and taking a 25-18 win to tie the match at one.
"You know what you're getting with Brett Hagarty, and that's excellence," says Rams head coach Dustin Reid on Hagarty's mid-game swap. "No matter what you ask her to do, she's going to do that at the highest level. She really stabilized our team and allowed us to change momentum."
Windsor came out to play in the third but never managed to pull ahead by more than just a few points. The Rams stayed in system and capitalized on the Lancers' seven errors in the frame, taking a 25-21 win in the third to pull ahead 2-1 in the match.
Ryerson battled hard in the fourth, hungry to avoid a fifth set for the second consecutive evening. The Rams pulled ahead 8-3 but relinquished their five-point lead approaching the technical, but the Rams continued to press and found a way to steal some points during several long rallies. Ryerson would go on to earn a 25-18 win in the fourth to claim a 3-1 win in the game.
Middle blocker Kate Grasman (Komoka, Ont.) led the Rams with eight total blocks through four sets. Grasman credits part of her success to the hard work of her teammates.
"Our outsides were doing a really good job of setting the blocks for the middles," says Grasman on the blocking performance today. "That made our jobs a lot easier. The momentum shifted a lot when we were getting those blocks so it was nice to be able to do that."
With the win over Windsor, the Rams improve to a 9-2 record on the year. The team is set to hit the road to take on the Brock Badgers and McMaster Marauders next weekend.
