By: Zach Worden
Scarborough — Sophia Clement had 12 assists, 11 digs, four kills and two blocks as the Centennial Colts fell 3-0 to the George Brown Huskies in Saturday's OCAA Women's volleyball action. Helping out Clement in the match for the Colts (2-2) was Frances Joy Carabbacan, who had five kills, two aces and six digs herself, and Symphony Kwong had three kills, two assists and seven digs. Coming into this match against an OCAA east division rival, the Colts and Huskies had both beaten Seneca and Georgian Colleges and suffered a loss to Durham College.
On the George Brown (3-1) side, Jaque Ronquillo built on her OCAA leading kills total with a game-high 13. Brianne Lee helped out in the win with 29 assists.
"I saw us getting better every set," Colts Head Coach Andrew Mallory said postmatch. "We are a young team, and I thought we got better as we went on. We didn't necessarily do the best job in the first set executing our gameplan …, I really thought we were going to take that third set."
Carabbacan made an impact for Centennial right away. After the Huskies broke out to an early lead, the first-year Colts served two straight aces to even things early. However, George Brown responded with 13 straight points on the back of some strong attacks to take control of the first set. Once the Colts got back in control, they took nine of 12 points, but the early comeback effort fell short as the Huskies took the first set 25-16.
Sophia Clement had a solid performance in the opening set with two kills, three assists and six digs. The second set saw both sides trading points early before the Colts took four straight points to force a George Brown timeout and build the first lead of more than two. Out of their timeout, the Huskies went on a 7-2 run to take the lead. Once they had momentum in the set, they grew their lead, eventually winning the set 25-16. Taylor Grant led George Brown's effort in the set with six kills, while Brianne Lee mixed in eight assists.
The third set saw the back-and-forth action resume, as neither team could build much of an advantage in the frame. The action would come right down to the wire. Centennial set the stage for an exciting finish by going up 20-19 — forcing a Huskie timeout. George Brown, once again responded well out of a timeout, taking the next two points.
Despite a great effort from Centennial to re-take the lead, the Huskies held on to win the set 25-22. Looking ahead to next week, the Colts are back in action on Saturday at Loyalist College where they will put an emphasis on "getting more rhythm in terms of [our start] and then taking care of business when it's there," Mallory said.