STORY BY NATALIA CAMARENA
The Sheridan Bruins women’s volleyball team (OCAA 5-4) heads into the winter break on a three-game win streak.
The lady Bruins won back-to-back home games Nov. 28 and 29 against Boréal (OCAA 0-10) and Cambrian College (OCAA 6-4).
The Bruins had a tough start against the Boréal Vipers, but managed to pick up the pace and make a clean sweep, defeating them 3-0. (26-24, 25-9, 25-22)
“We definitely came out of the gates pretty slow and we were making a bunch of mistakes,” said Bruins’ head coach Scott Hunt. “It was a bit of a struggle, but we found a way to fight through it.”
It seemed as though the Bruins had some difficulty adjusting to the Vipers’ game plan.
“The game started out slow. It’s hard to play a team that’s not necessarily at your calibre,” said assistant coach Kaila Wiley. “We got it together and the second set obviously showed what we can actually do.”
Coming off their win from Saturday evening, the lady Bruins took to the court with more confidence against Cambrian on Sunday.
“We pulled through today. Our execution was much better and we served really well for most of the match,” said Hunt. “We were able to put some pressure on them off the first contact and that was awesome to get some momentum early on in the rallies.”
After a fairly even first set, it was clear that the Bruins were going to have to stay strong to win. Sheridan defeated Cambrian 3-1 (25-23, 25-17, 22-25, 25-14) after a close four sets.
“This team was more like us, but we were able to pull it together and we rallied when we needed to,” said Wiley.
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Third-year veteran Dimitra Stathakos didn’t disappoint this weekend. Stathakos has led the team this season, winning OCAA Athlete of the Week a few weeks ago, and averaging 3.0 kills a set. She played consistently and kept the pressure on Boreal and Cambrian.
Throughout the match there were some questionable calls that visibly upset some players and coach Hunt.
Following a call against the Bruins in the third set, Hunt vocalized his discontent and received a yellow card.
Asked about the calls after the game, he declined to comment.
For now both Hunt and Wiley are focused on getting the team prepared for the games to come in the winter semester.
“Next semester we need to work on decision-making,” said Wiley. “Whether it’s setting, passing or what shot we’re taking, we’re not always making the best decision for each situation.”
Having won just over half of their games this season, the team is looking for a more solid game plan.
“We’re trying to generate some consistency from week to week for next semester,” said Hunt. “We’ve had some matches this year where we’ve been pretty good and then others where we’ve been pretty bad.”