SCARBOROUGH, Ont. - The Sheridan Bruins women's volleyball team (20-11, 13-9 OCAA) lost a heartbreaker in the OCAA bronze medal game, falling in 5-sets to St. Clair.
"We played really well but when we had chances to put them away we were far too tentative," head coach Scott Hunt said. "We weren't trying to manufacture our own points when the game was on the line. That's gonna sting all off-season knowing we could have gone after it more. St. Clair played aggressive volleyball the entire match, especially late in sets. They deserved to win today because of that."
Sheridan fired quickly out of the gates, jumping to a 5-0 lead in the opening set. They pushed their advantage to 16-10, building enough of a cushion to weather a comeback bid from St. Clair, taking the first frame 25-20.
They enjoyed another quick start in the second, leading 9-5 early, but seeing St. Clair rally to knot the set at 14-14, before taking a 20-19 lead late.
It was a battle for control over the closing moments of the set, with Tamia Cooper-Evelyn punctuating a 29-27 win with the kill.
The Bruins had leads midway through each of the next two sets - 15-10 in the third and 14-8 in the fourth - but couldn't hold St. Clair off in either, seeing the match extended to a fifth set after a pair of 25-22 wins for the club from Windsor.
Brimming with confidence, St. Clair opened the game on a 3-0 run, led 8-3 at the changeover and never looked back in a 15-8 set.
Tamia Cooper-Evelyn was named player of the game for the Bruins.
Although disappointed in falling short of a medal, Hunt is proud of how his team performed this year and is hopeful that the post-season experience gained this year will pay dividends down the road.
"We exceeded our goals this season so I am very happy with the progress of our program," he said. "Considering we only had one player on our roster with playoff experience, we showed fantastic improvement from last year. It's exciting to see the development of our group and I can't wait to get started next season."
