On Friday night, the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks’ women’s volleyball team opened 2010 the same way they closed 2009: with a loss. Stuck in a six-game losing streak, the Hawks fell in straight sets to the Queen’s Gaels, and it appeared as though the new year would bring no relief to the struggling team.
“That loss to Queen’s left a pretty sour taste in our mouths,” said head coach Luke Snider. “We got ourselves in some tough situations and we weren’t able to find a way to come out on top.”
The following night, the Hawks received the remedy to their continuing woes when the winless Royal Military College (RMC) Paladins paid a visit to the Wilfrid Laurier Athletic Complex. The purple and gold dominated the match from start to finish, winning in straight sets and ending their losing streak at seven games.
“[Against RMC] it was incredibly important for us to simply prove to ourselves that we are able to win,” said Snider. “There were a couple tight situations tonight where we were able to come out on top and we’ve had those same situations come up in our other matches against teams of all calibre.”
“[RMC] may not be the strongest team in the league but the situations that we were able to succeed in today are ones that we face in every match.”
According to Snider, the biggest issue all season has been a lack of experience. The team features six rookies and three second-years, but Snider believes they are improving steadily.
“We’re continuing to move along the right path,” he said. “Capitalizing in those tough situations at the end of sets is definitely the main positive we can take away from this weekend; we just need to learn to play like that on a regular basis.”
The Hawks now sit at 4-8, putting them second-last in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) west division. Things won’t get much easier for them this weekend as they begin a four-game road trip with a game against the 10-1 McMaster Marauders.
