The women’s volleyball team is still searching for its first win since 2018.
Lionel Woods
In what has become a tough season for the Gee-Gees women’s volleyball squad, the team hit the court at Montpetit Hall on Sunday afternoon desperately looking for their first win of the season.
The University of Ottawa women’s volleyball team was defeated for the third time this season by the Montreal Carabins on Sunday afternoon. The Gee-Gees, however, fought hard on home court and were within striking distance in every set.
Nieve Seguin is a four-year veteran on the U of O’s women’s volleyball team. Hailing from the small Franco-Ontarian village of Casselman, she looks to help a struggling team come back to relevance while balancing a tough med school schedule.
After dropping their first game of the season against McGill University on Nov. 3, the Gee-Gees faced the Martlets for the second time this week at Montpetit Gym on Friday night.
While scrolling through the Gee-Gees website, some may notice that not all varsity teams play in OUA. In fact, nearly half of the school’s varsity teams play in RSEQ, USports’ Quebec university sports conference. But why?
We haven’t been able to sustain our performance level long enough to win sets and win matches.” — Lionel Woods, Gee-Gees head volleyball coach.
This was only the second time this season the U of O has held a lead after the third set.
Last season represented a significant change in the Gee-Gees women’s volleyball program, as the team made the jump from the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) division to the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ).
After pulling off an impressive 3–0 victory against the UQAM Citadins on Feb. 10, the University of Ottawa women’s volleyball team geared up for their final home game of the regular season the very next day.
While it’s still a tight race, the team has some ground to make up in their remaining four games before playoffs start.
This year, Tome is demonstrating her ability to be a versatile player, contributing both offensively and defensively. A left-handed hitter, Tome is averaging a career-high 1.22 kills per set this season, a very good mark considering she spends most of the time setting up her teammates.
The women’s volleyball team was hoping for a better start to the second half of their season after going 5–5 in the first ten games. Instead they went 1–1 this weekend going up against McGill and the University of Sherbrooke.
Following this weekend series, the Gees hold a 5–5 record and are tied for third place in the RSEQ.
This weekend served as a microcosm of the Gees’ uneven 2016-17 season. They lost to last-place UQAM for the second time this season, but came out on top against first-place Montréal for the second time this season.
This year, the Gees have new opportunities and a new conference to contend with.
The Gee-Gees finished the championship with style, as the win over UBC marked their first victory over a Canada West team since beating the University of Manitoba Bisons back in 2007.
The Cavalry Awards are a series of honours given by the Fulcrum to various varsity athletes for outstanding performances and sportsmanship or eye-catching moments. It’s a simple way to let the athletes know we recognize their talent and appreciate the struggle they bear, in addition to being students, to make us proud fans. Although we’d love to give each one an award, we only have so much print space, so we had to make some tough decisions. The candidates aren’t nominated, but handpicked by the sports staff and volunteers at the Fulcrum and reflect our opinions.
Lionel Woods started with the Gee-Gees 25 years ago as the assistant coach and athletic therapist. He never played a game of volleyball in his life, but took on the head coaching position in 1992 and has never looked back.
