Tough week for Hawk volleyball
Woodie Brown

Both the men's and women's Golden Hawk volleyball teams were in action last Wednesday against the Windsor Lancers. Unfortunately, both teams fell to defeat by a 3-1 margin.

The women's volleyball team found themselves in an exciting match that saw the Hawks narrowly lose. They started the first game very poorly and fell behind 7-0. Some impressive blocks and powerful spikes by the Hawks got them back in the game. They closed the gap to 9-8 but returned to the lackluster play that got them in trouble in the first game. Laurier again showed some hustle and cut the lead down to 13-12, Unfortunately, they lost the serve and fell 15-12.

In the second game Laurier began with a great deal of intensity. They made several crucial blocks, served well, and overpowered the Lancers. The score was quickly 10-3 for Laurier. They quickly lost the momentum they had and stopped making the blocks and spiking the ball. Silly errors by the Hawks left them with an 11-11 tie. They were unable to regain their game and lost 15-12.

The third game was a different story. Laurier played strongly for the entire match. At one point in the game, a Windsor player took the ball right off the face. This summed up this game perfectly, as Laurier walked to an easy 15-3 win.

While Laurier continued to play well in the fourth game, so did Windsor. The game was close for a long time and no team was behind by more than two points for most of the game. One team had to lose though, and Windsor started to play superior volleyball and won the game 15-12. With this win, the Lancers took the match three games to one.

The men's volleyball team took the court hoping to avenge the women's loss, but fell a little bit short. The action was very quick and both teams played great volleyball. In the first game the Hawks kept it close for along time, but after keeping the score tied at two they fell into a deficit that they could not get out of. They eventually fell 15-8 to the Lancers.

The second game was even closer than the first game. The two teams made several great shots to keep in the game and the score was tied at two, seven and nine. The Lancers capitalized on the Hawks mistakes to take the lead. They seemed to be in great position to return the spikes of the Hawks, whereas Laurier was rarely able to return a spike by the Lancers. The Lancers returned two huge Laurier spikes to keep the ball alive and finally won 15-10.

Laurier must have realized that they needed to play better if they wanted to win because they came out strong in the third game and overpowered the Lancers. They pulled out to an early lead and appeared to be on their way to an easy victory. With the score 12-4, Laurier looked to be in control. However, they were unable to control the game as they did earlier and allowed Windsor to bring the game within two, 13-11. Luckily, the Hawks held off the Lancers on this late run and won 15-11.

The final game was the tightest of all of the games, and the teams remained even for a long time. It seemed to take forever for either of the teams to reach five points. Laurier was the first to reach five, but after the timeout they gave up five straight Lancer points and were unable to catch up. The Hawks appeared to fall apart on the court. They missed hitting the ball and made mistakes that allowed Windsor to take the lead. Laurier rallied to make it close at the end, but still lost 15-13.

The Hawks had an opportunity to get revenge on these very same Lancers on Saturday when they travelled to Windsor for a re-match. Unfortunatly, the results were largely the same, with the men's and women's teams falling to defeat 3-0 and 3-1.