It's a monumental season for both the Brock men's and women's volleyball teams.
The No. 8 Brock women's volleyball team is hosting their first OUA quarter-final game in program history at Bob Davis Gymnasium on Saturday, Feb. 29.
The Badgers face off against the York Lions at 6 p.m.; TICKETS
The men's team make their first playoff appearance in the OUA quarter-finals when they hit the road to play the No. 7 Toronto Varsity Blues on Saturday at 3 p.m. OUA.tv
Despite being the higher seed, women's volleyball head coach Steve Delaney isn't taking the visiting York Lions lightly.
"It's unique that it's the first time Brock has ever hosted an OUA quarter-final playoff game," said Delaney. "But this York team consists of players who have been in the post-season every year on the road, so most of their athletes have been in this situation more than we have. This is nothing new to them. We will have to play our best match in order to win on Saturday."
Brock posted their highest win total (14-5) in recent years. The power of Brock's senior hitters - Laura Condotta, Darby Taylor and Grace Pyatt - also had the offensive humming as the Badgers led the league in points per set (16.1) and kills per set (12.11). The setting duo of Emily Armstrong and Sara Rohr contributed to a league-best 11.59 assists per set.
York possesses a dangerous outside hitter in Olivia Kim, who was fifth in the OUA with a total of 225 kills, and the league-leading blocker in middle Wesley-Ann Bailey (1.13).
The Lions ranks high in digs per set (fourth) and total attacks (fourth), including assists per set (fourth) and blocks per set (fifth).
"York is not going to be an easy match," said Delaney. "They aren't going to go away. We have to execute our game plan, perform and remain emotionally and mentally stable. If we do that we should have a good outcome for us."
For the men, they strung together back-to-back wins to capture their first playoff berth since the program was reinstated in 2016.
The Badgers defeated the Western Mustangs 3-0 (25-22, 25-17, 25-20) to secure their first post-season berth on Feb. 23. It's also the first time since 2016 that the men's team has captured seven wins.
In their previous meeting, Brock lost 3-1 to Toronto on Nov. 17 where they won the second set, and lost a close fourth set 27-25.
The Varsity Blues offence finished first in the league in kills (797) and assists (744), but men's head coach Matt Ragogna is looking forward to the match.
"We're going to be the underdogs, but we're going to embrace it and fight hard," he said.
The Badgers offence were fifth in kills per set (10.89) thanks in large part to second-year outside hitter Logan House, who was fifth in the OUA with 3.53 kills per set, and first-year players Saulius Lianga (2.14) and Nanle Yusuf (2.00), who also helped the Badgers rate high in digs.
