THUNDER BAY -- It may have been another notch in the loss column, but in many ways it felt like a win.
The Lakehead Thunderwolves 3-1 (18-25, 25-17, 15-25, 10-25) to the No. 5-ranked McMaster Marauders on Friday night in their 2016-17 home debut, but there were plenty of positives the team can take out of the defeat as they move forward in search of their first win.
The team is trending in the right direction, said veteran coach Chris Green.
“I was really proud of the girls tonight. We’ve talked all week about initiating a more aggressive style of play. The first weekend we struggled with that a bit. We got to Brock and could have, should have, would have. We could have had a couple of wins there,” Green said.
“But the little things hurt us. Tonight I thought they played a really good overall game. But we made too many serving errors at crucial times and we didn’t attack aggressively enough in transition, which was the biggest difference.”
Taking a set from one of the top teams in the country is something to build upon, said outside hitter Kailan Robinson, a Homiota, Man. native in her fourth season with the Thunderwolves.
But it’s not enough she said, noting the team wasn’t able to sustain the momentum in the third and fourth sets moving forward.
“We just didn’t start out how we wanted to in (the third) set. They had a run and we couldn’t stop it and get ahead and we really lost our momentum there,” Robinson said. “I really think that showed when we didn’t finish.”
It does feel like things are starting to come together, despite an 0-5 start to the season.
“We felt like we played well and that was a good game for us against the No. 5 team in the country. We knew we were doing certain things right. We found our flow, where previously we didn’t find that in our last four games,” she said.
“But finally things are starting to click and we’re going to move forward from this and tomorrow we’ll be even better.”
Fewer service errors are a necessity for a smaller team, Robinson added.
“We have to hit higher and harder,” she said, praising setter Jennifer Hammerton, a second-year player from Woodstock, Ont.
“Jen ran a better offence tonight, I thought.”
Hammerston said every game is a learning experience and while they didn’t pass the McMaster test with flying colours, they did get a good grade. ‘
“We definitely played up to their level and I think we can do better tomorrow and maybe pull out two sets or a full win. I definitely think we’re up there with them.”
Lakehead and McMaster will play again on Saturday night. Game time is 7 p.m. at the Thunderdome.
