BURNABY, B.C. - The Simon Fraser University volleyball team got the non-conference portion of their 2013 schedule underway on Friday night in the West Gym with a three sets to two loss to the Vancouver Island Mariners.
"I was really happy with our performance on defence," said Head Coach
Gina Schmidt. "Serve receive wise we were also fairly consistent. We haven't worked a lot on our offence so far this season and that's one area that may have let us down a bit in key moments but the things we have been working on I thought we did well."
The match went back and forth as VIU took the opening set 25-21, before SFU took the second and third sets 25-12 and 25-20 respectively.
VIU responded by taking very close fourth and fifth sets by scores of 26-24 and 17-15 to take the win.
Amanda Renkema (Delta, B.C.) led the team with 15 kills and
Alanna Chan (Port Moody, B.C.) led SFU with 11 digs.
"This game was a battle. We made a lot of defensive improvements," said Renkema. "We need to make more improvements but we're excited to see how things develop this season."
In their Clan debuts,
Brooklynn Gould-Bradbury (Seattle, Wash.) and
Alison McKay (Port Moody, B.C.) contributed strong defensive plays in pursuit of the ball, showcasing great athleticism in their first games in the West Gym.
"We have improved so much from the first day of training camp," said Gould-Bradbury. "Our defence was great today. We just need to get tougher and know how to finish a match."
After dropping the first set, and starting the second set tied at nine, the Clan took off on a 16-3 run to close out the set with a 25-12 win and tie the match at a set apiece.
Then the Clan took the lead by taking a tight third set.
In the fourth and fifth sets the Clan had opportunities to win on match point, but on both occasions VIU was able to snatch victory from the Clan, taking the match three sets to two.
The loss starts the Clan's season at 0-1. SFU will be back in action on Saturday when they host the Thompson Rivers WolfPack at 12:30 p.m. and the Columbia Bible College Bearcats at 7:30 p.m.
