Rams fall to hot Lions squad

Box Score TORONTO - The Rams women's volleyball team could not find a win in their first home game of the year against the now 6-1 York Lions in a 3-0 affair (20-25, 17-25, 18-25).

Lions middle blocker Christina Piccinin led all hitters with 13 kills on .455% hitting efficiency, while left side Scarlett Gingera led the Rams with eight kills in just her second OUA game.

Rams setter Sarah Zonneveld started tonight's match, making it her first career start in her rookie campaign.

"I thought she was terrific," said Rams head coach Dustin Reid, who experimented with many rookies tonight. "She has the ability to make things happen on the court". Zonneveld finished the game with 19 assists.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ryerson Rams (@ryersonrams)

The opening set was the closest of the three, with the Rams playing strong defence with libero Mary Ann Rioflorido in particular coming up with a flurry of digs in crucial moments. The Lions however, displayed a well balanced attack with three players tallying over three kills.

The Rams went down early in the second set staring at a 15-4 deficit, but thanks to a 6-0 run they brought it back within just six heading into the technical timeout. Despite having equal attack attempts and similar kill counts, the Lions had five aces, minimized their errors and won the momentum-shifting points to take the second set 25-17.

In similar fashion in the third, the Rams were able to gather runs and come up with plays, but the consistency and lack of errors from the Lions saw them take the final set 25-18.

Despite the lopsided loss, Reid was encouraged by the improved effort that did not translate to the scoreboard.

"I was really proud of the way we battled today," he expressed. "The result was similar to the one in the fall semester (3-0 loss), but I thought we played better today than we did in that match."

16-7 in favour of York to start the 3rd set.

Time to leave it all out there??

Mikayla Sherriffs brought the energy with this huge kill ??#weRrams pic.twitter.com/GCiCebTG4Z
— Rams WVB (@RamsWVB) February 13, 2022

Looking ahead, the Rams play back-to-back games against the No. 2 Toronto Varsity Blues, but not all hope is lost since the new OUA play-in format and the three added games at the end of the season give the Rams a chance to qualify for the postseason, and Reid seems to have his sights on improving every game leading up to those three favourable matchups.

"We're really focused on the matches that come after that," he shared. "We've talked a lot about building so we can play our best volleyball in those matches."

The Rams will visit the Goldring Centre on Friday, February 18, at 6 p.m. then come home on Saturday, February 19 at 6 p.m for just their third home game of the season.

Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

#4 Mikayla Sherriffs: OH; 5' 9"; 2

#5 Mary Rioflorido: LIB; 5' 4"; 1

#8 Sarah Zonneveld: S; 5' 10"; 1

#12 Scarlett Gingera: OH; 5' 11"; 1

Players Mentioned

#4 Mikayla Sherriffs
: 5' 9"; 2
: OH

#5 Mary Rioflorido
: 5' 4"; 1
: LIB

#8 Sarah Zonneveld
: 5' 10"; 1
: S

#12 Scarlett Gingera
: 5' 11"; 1
: OH