OCAA East Play-Off Pictures Tightens with Trent Loss

Wednesday, February 1, 2012, Peterborough

Despite 61 points of offense, the Trent Excalibur women’s volleyball team fell 3-1 at home to the Loyal Lancers on Wednesday.  The loss is the second straight for the Excalibur, seeing their record fall to 12-5 in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) East Division.

The visiting Lancers burst out of the gates quickly, taking the first two sets 25-19 and 25-17. Trent woke up in the third set as they jumped out to a 6-0 lead and cruised to a 25-14 win.  The third set was tight and saw the lead change multiple times, before Loyalist pulled away for the 26-24.

Trent’s Emma Schlegl (Ardrossan, Alta.) led all scorers with 15 points on 10 kills and five aces.  Sarah MacLaren (Renfrew, Ont.) added 10 kills, one ace and one block for Trent, while Sara Rettie (Newmarket, Ont.) added eight kills and two aces in the losing effort. Schlegl also added 10 digs.

For the Lancers, Sherene Einarsson led the way with 11 kills and one ace, while Leanne Jeffs added eights kills and three blocks.  Nicole Rainville had a game-high 14 digs in the win.

With the Excalibur loss, the race for second place in the OCAA East becomes very tight. Trent currently sits in second, two points ahead of both Loyalist and the Algonquin Thunder, however both Loyalist and Algonquin hold a game-in-hand. The team finishing second receives a bye directly to the OCAA Championship tournament, while the third and fourth place teams will host a play-off game in order to qualify for the championship event.

Trent will return to action on February 4 at 1 pm when they visit the Georgian Grizzlies.  They will then return home on February 10 and 11 to wrap up the regular season against La Cite and Algonquin.