THUNDER BAY -- Jennifer Casey remembers from earlier in her career how much time and effort it took for her squad to learn how to close out and win matches.
After all, in her rookie season Lakehead finished last in the league with a 1-17 record before figuring it out the next year en route to earning a playoff spot.
She just hopes the learning curve with this young group won’t be quite as steep.
After taking the first set Lakehead was not able to build on that, falling in four sets (25-19, 22-25, 19-25, 14-25) to the visiting McMaster Marauders in Ontario university regular season volleyball at the Thunderdome on Saturday night.
“In the past we struggled with finishing games and now that I think we’re a young team again we’re going to have to learn some of those qualities,” the senior hitter said.
“It’s going up there and swinging and playing without fear.”
An inability to take advantage of swings of momentum dogged Lakehead, as untimely errors and missed serves them from taking any substantial leads in the final three sets.
Nowhere was that more apparent than in the fourth, where with Lakehead trailing 9-16 the Thunderwolves won four straight points to bring them within five.
However, that run ended with a Casey serve into the net and the Marauders rolled off the next six points to close out the set and the match.
In all, Lakehead missed nine serves in the match.
It’s not the number but the timing that bothered Green. He encourages his players to serve aggressively when they can afford the risk of losing a free point, but not in key situations or when facing a deficit.
“You don’t have to get that specific,” he said. “You just have to hit them. You don’t have to get it floating away from them.”
With four new faces in the starting lineup the squad has had to rely on two of their most senior members to carry the offensive load.
Casey and fifth-year senior Jasmine Fox combined to 88 offensive attack opportunities, with Casey converting 21 of those into kills while Fox was successful on 11 kills.
Green said even though the two outside hitters are the strength of the offence, having such a high concentration from those areas of the court don’t keep the opposing defence honest.
“When your middles are not an effective or efficient part of your offence then you become predictable and it becomes an outside game,” Green said.
In the first set Lakehad took an early 9-4 lead and while McMaster briefly closed the gap to a single point the Thunderwolves held on to get ahead in convincing fashion.
The Marauders responded in the second, taking a narrow edge almost immediately and nursing it through to the end to draw even.
The third started out close, with the two teams hitting the technical timeout with McMaster holding a slim 16-14 lead. From there the Marauders offence kept the Lakehead defence scrambling, winning five of the next six points to take a strangehold.
With their backs against the walls in the fourth Lakehead was up after the first few points but the Marauders quickly asserted their dominance, running out to a 16-9 lead at the technical timeout.
These losses at the beginning of the season against two teams that have a combined 8-1 record doesn’t mean it’s time to sound the alarms.
“It’s game three of a long season,” Fox said. “We have a lot of young talent and they’re showing they have something for us.”
The loss is the third straight to start off the season for Lakehead and comes one night after the Thunderwolves failed to capitalize on a two-set lead, falling in five against McMaster.
Lakehead will host the Guelph Gryphons (3-2) on Nov. 8-9 for a pair of afternoon contests at the Thunderdome.
