TORONTO – The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold women's volleyball squad were able to recover from a sluggish start and power their way to a thrilling five-set victory (21-25, 25-14, 25-17, 22-25, 15-13) over the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees on Thursday to nab their third win of the season.
TMU's Hannah Bellai and Scarlett Gingera littered the floor of the Mattamy Athletic Centre (MAC) with kills, 20 and 15 respectively, to help carry the Bold over the line in their tightest affair of the campaign thus far.
Chasing the Gee-Gee's after dropping the opening set 21-25, the Bold rallied around the energy from their home gym to win back-to-back sets and push the visitors to the brink. A late collapse in the fourth set forced the Bold to grind out their path to victory in a tightly-contested and condensed final frame, a feat the team accomplished in a thrilling 15-13 win.
"We're not going to win games if we don't have that [fight] in spades," said Head Coach of the Bold Dustin Reid following the game.
"Hearing everyone cheer and get excited for us was such an incredible experience," said Bellai, who suited up in her first-career home opener as a member of the Bold.
"I'm so happy that we crushed it," she added.
It was a harrowing start to the match for the blue and gold as a trio of blocking errors from TMU's side of the net enabled the Gee Gee's to snatch the match's early momentum en route to a first-set win.
The Bold struggled to keep up with the visitors off the hop and cool down the scorching arm of Ottawa's Aubrey Odigie as the OUA's leader in kills per set picked the Bold apart for five kills to give her side the early edge.
TMU were able to keep their opponent in check with a dominant 25-14 victory in the second set, holding the Gee-Gee's to a season-worst -.194 hitting percentage and grabbing momentum from a mid-set block from Bellai that propelled the Bold into a lead they failed to look back from.
Reid's side did not slow down in the third set either, capping off an 8-0 run to pull their noses out front in the early stages of the set with a pair of diving efforts by Darcie Buchanan and Gingera to help secure their set-clinching 25th point and bring the packed crowd to their feet.
Reid described the final moment of the Bold's third-set win as a moment that will live on with the team forever, labeling it as a major momentum booster for the group throughout the remainder of the season.
The Gee-Gee's were able to mitigate the energy from the home crowd with a comeback victory in the fourth set, relying heavily on the offensive strengths of their two leading hitters in Nicole Hildebrand and Odigie to combine for all 14 of the team's kills in the frame.
The two were unsuccessful in replicating their production in the fifth set, running out of gas as the Bold narrowly closed out a thrilling victory for the first time at home this season.
The group will look to replicate the energy and success that helped move them above .500 on Thursday with a second victory over the Gee-Gee's on Friday.
First serve flies from the MAC at 5 p.m. Students get free entry with their OneCard.
