REGINA (CIS) – Université Laval defeated Dalhousie in four sets (23-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-15) on Sunday afternoon in the bronze medal match at the 2014 CIS Women's Volleyball Championship at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.
CHAMPIONSHIP WEBSITE: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/wvball/index
The win gives Laval its first CIS medal since 2011, when it took home a silver after falling to UBC in the championship final.
Laval's Alyssa Fields-Bouchard had a match-high .429 hitting percentage with 13 kills and just one error on 28 total attacks. Eve Thibault led Laval in both kills (18) and digs (20) while hitting .340 for the match and Esther Gilbert also broke into double figures in kills with 15. Sophie Dallaire tied Fields-Bouchard for the team lead with five blocks and had 18 of Laval's 99 digs.
Dalhousie's Maggie Li had 17 kills and hit .341 for the Tigers, while Desiree Nouwen led all players with 19 kills. Katherine Ryan was everywhere on defence for Dalhousie, finishing the four-set match with an impressive total of 28 digs – and libero Marisa Mota wasn't far behind with 21. The fourth-place finish for Dalhousie is the third best in program history, as the Tigers won a national title in 1982 and placed second in 1984.
There wasn't much between the two teams in the first three sets, as Dalhousie won the first by a 25-23 margin before Laval came back with 25-22 and 25-23 wins in the second and third.
The third set saw Laval take the lead early. Dalhousie had seven consecutive points to reach a 19-17 lead. >From there, the two teams rallied until the end when Laval took the set 25-23. The two teams traded leads 15 times in the first three sets, but Laval took control early in the fourth set and rolled to a 25-15 win to clinch the match.
STAT LEADERS
Boxscore: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/wvball/2014/championship
Dalhousie
Kills: Desiree Nouwen (19), Maggie Li (17), Tara Gowan (8)
Points: Desiree Nouwen (21), Maggie Li (18), Tara Gowan (10.5)
Blocks: Petra Rafuse (4), Tara Gowan (3)
Digs: Katherine Ryan (28), Marisa Mota (21), Abby Czenze (13), Desiree Nouwen (11)
Service aces: Abby Czenze and Desiree Nouwen and Tara Gowan (1)
Player of the match: Petra Rafuse
Laval
Kills: Eve Thibault (18), Esther Gilbert (15), Alyssa Fields-Bouchard (13)
Points: Eve Thibault (19.5), Alyssa Fields-Bouchard (17), Esther Gilbert (16)
Blocks: Alyssa Fields-Bouchard and Sophie Dallaire (5), Valérie Lemay (3)
Digs: Eve Thibault (20), Sophie Dallaire (18), Émile Ducharme (16), Valérie Lemay (14)
Service aces: Valérie Lemay (2), Alyssa Fields-Bouchard and Eve Thibault (1)
Player of the match: Joany Leblanc-Bellemare
CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE (all times CENTRAL TIME)
Friday, February 28
13:00 Quarter-final #1: Dalhousie 3, Trinity Western 1 (25-21, 15-25, 25-19, 25-23)
15:00 Quarter-final #2: Manitoba 3, Ottawa 0 (25-17, 25-23, 25-16)
18:00 Quarter-final #3: UBC 3, Regina 1 (22-25, 25-23, 25-12, 25-16)
20:00 Quarter-final #4: Laval 3, McMaster 0 (25-15, 25-20, 25-19)
Saturday, March 1
13:00 Consolation #1: Trinity Western 3, Ottawa 0 (25-14, 25-22, 25-15)
15:00 Consolation #2: Regina 3, McMaster 0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-15)
18:00 Semifinal #1: Manitoba 3 Dalhousie 0 (25-22, 25-13, 25-21)
20:00 Semifinal #2: UBC 3, Laval 1 (24-26, 25-13, 25-21, 25-18)
Sunday, March 2
13:00 5th place: Trinity Western 3, Regina 2 (22-25, 25-23, 25-22, 16-25, 15-13)
15:00 Bronze medal: Laval 3, Dalhousie 1 (23-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-15)
18:00 Championship final: Manitoba vs. UBC (www.CIS-SIC.tv)