THUNDER BAY -- The Lakehead Thunderwolves knew before they stepped on the court Saturday night their dreams of making the playoffs for a third straight season would not become reality.
They wrote that final chapter of the campaign with a game that was completely representative of the season as a whole.
Lakehead closed out the season with a four-set loss (24-26, 25-21, 22-25, 23-25) against the Waterloo Warriors at the Thunderdome, splitting their final weekend series.
While missing the postseason for the first time since 2011-2012 season is a disappointment, head coach Chris Green said the foundation continues to be built for a solid future.
“We certainly didn’t achieve what we had set our goals to,” Green said. “(But) I think we got a lot of benefit out of this season. They key now is what we do with it. There were a lot of good things these kids did this year, especially (Saturday).”
Lakehead entered the season with a number of holes, with fifth-year senior middle Jasmine Fox and fourth-year hitter Jennifer Casey the only starters to return.
That put players, such as fourth-year setter Vanessa Masters and second-years Kailin Robinson and Sara Potter, into bigger roles than they were accustomed.
“This year was a big learning year for me. Taking the starting position this year made me more confident but more scared,” Robinson said. “It was different this year. There’s more energy needed than I expected.”
Trying to fit so many new pieces together was not the smoothest process, one that throughout the season rode a rollercoaster of highs and lows.
The inconsistency was evident in their finale. Lakehead started off slow in the first set, trailing 16-9. But the squad showed some resolve, playing some of their cleanest volleyball of the season to draw even 24-24 before dropping the next two points.
The team got a major scare during the first point of the second set when Casey went down with a knee injury that left her down on the court for several minutes in severe pain. She was eventually helped to the bench where her knee was immobilized.
After the match Green said the extent of the injury as not yet known.
Seeing one of their leaders felled could have deflated them for the rest of the night but instead the group rallied together, opening up a lead in the middle stages of the set to draw even.
The smooth play carried over to the third set where Lakehead jumped out to a 15-10 edge. However, they could not sustain that level of play as Waterloo clawed back by winning 11 of the next 12 points en route to taking the set.
With their backs against the wall Lakehead fell behind early but received a major boost when Olivia Bowman was substituted into the game, converting a kill on her first point. She then led the team on a run to take the lead, serving out 10 consecutive points.
That fourth set seemed to epitomize the season as a whole, as Lakehead was not able to completely seize momentum. Waterloo clawed back after the Bowman run, erasing the deficit and closing out the match.
The season got off to a rocky start for a young squad trying to find their footing. Lakehead dropped their first six matches to quickly fall to the bottom of the division.
When the team was able to claw their way to victory, the Thunderwolves were able to back up the result. The first win finally came on Nov. 15 against the Western Mustangs and then they closed out the first half of the season one week later with their second win.
But that strong wrap did not carry its way over the next portion of their schedule, which saw Lakehead start 2015 by losing their first four contests.
They recovered by going 3-2 in the final two weekends of the regular season but it was not enough to claw their way into the postseason.
There were still some individual bright spots for the team.
Casey, Masters and fifth-year senior libero Breanne Hilhorst ranked among the conference leaders in kills, assists and blocks respectively.
For Masters, a fourth-year player who entered the starting lineup for the first time out of necessity as the team’s only setter, it was a year of development on the fly.
“To be thrown into a starting university job as a setter, with no club and not playing thousands of national matches that most CIS setters do and went in ran the whole season, it blows my mind what she’s done,” Green said.
Green expects to return most of this season’s squad, with only Fox and Hilhorst exhausting their eligibility. The two were honoured with a special presentation prior to the start of the match.
Despite coming up short of their goal in her final season, Hilhorst still believes the program is in better shape now than when she arrived. She knows milestones achieved in her career, such as wins against perennial conference powerhouses Ottawa and York, were not possible when she arrived.
“You have to work hard to get what you want done,” she said. “That just shows no matter where you came from, no matter who you play for or what you play with, you can beat anybody.”
