The Brock Badgers women's volleyball team pushed the No. 2 seed to the brink.
It was a thrilling five-set U SPORTS semifinal match for the No. 3 seed Badgers, who fell in a close 3-2 decision (21-25, 25-23, 15-25, 25-21, 13-15) to the Sherbrooke Vert & Or on Saturday, March 14 at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C.
The Mikasa Player of the Game for Brock was Madison Tuck, who finished with 17 points on 14 kills and three blocks. Three other players also reached double-digit points as Daryan Chadwick led the team with 17.5, while Charlotte Ross and Emily Foest chipped in with 15 and 12, respectively.
In the first set, when the Vert & Or took their first two-point lead at 20-18, head coach Steve Delaney called a timeout to try and flip the momentum.
Despite a small late push from Brock, Sherbrooke took the set 25-21, taking advantage of six serving errors from the Badgers and notching two aces of their own. Tuck did her best to keep Brock in it with five kills in the frame.
Sherbrooke aimed to continue what they started in the first, taking an early 6-2 lead, but Brock responded, forcing a timeout from their opponents as they answered with an 11-6 run to go up 13-12.
Back-to-back kills from Foest and Baruchelli helped break the deadlock at 23-23, giving the Badgers the second set. In the frame, Brock delivered five blocks and kept Sherbrooke to a .075 hitting percentage.
The third frame saw the Vert & Or get out to a large 9-3 lead through strong attacking, and this continued throughout the frame as they hit at a .333 clip.
Unable to weather the late 10-4 run, the Badgers fell 25-15 in the third set.
Looking to reverse what happened in the previous frame, Brock notched 12 kills on their first 13 points to go up 13-10, forcing Sherbrooke to use their first timeout.
As the Vert & Or battled back, the Badgers continued to counter with strong attacking as Tuck recorded her 11th kill to make it 20-17. Brock finished with their highest hitting percentage of the match at .378 to win it 25-21.
In the fifth set, a key block from Baruchelli and Tuck after the change over gave the Badgers a 9-7 lead and forced an immediate timeout from the Vert & Or.
The Badgers called back-to-back timeouts of their own in hopes of stopping the late Vert & Or momentum. A kill from Ross cut the deficit to 14-13, but a service error by Brock followed, giving Sherbrooke the fifth set and the match.
Errors from the service line played a key role in the contest as the Badgers finished with 18 while the Vert & Or comitted only seven.
Brock held a slim edge in hitting percentage, finishing at .174 compared to Sherbrooke's .166.
The Badgers are set to take on the host TWU Spartans in the U SPORTS bronze medal game on Sunday, March 15 at 5 p.m. Eastern. The game can be seen on the CBC Sports YouTube channel and on CBC Gem.
