The UTM women’s D-league volleyball began their season on a sour note, losing all three of their matches. On Sunday, November 6, the women lost to UTSC 2-0. In the first set, UTSC took care of UTM in quick fashion, winning 25-11. The following games saw a better play by UTM losing 25-19 and 25-13, but it wasn’t enough to compete into extra frames.
The most important thing in any season for a team is that the team improves their skill, discipline, and effort, no matter where they are in the standings. For head coach Patrick Persaud, he is happy with how his team has fared these past few weeks, even though they haven’t dominated the same way that they have in previous years. “I feel that in every game and set we’re improving. That’s all I can ask for from my athletes,” says Persaud.
Persaud is a former player for the men’s UTM volleyball team, and knows full well what it takes to be a winning athlete. Persaud also knows that the coach can’t control everything that happens; the team needs to come together as a collective and create a strategy to be successful. “I know the girls have their expectations, but as a coach, my expectations are for them to get better after every touch of the ball and after every set,” says Persaud.
The women’s D-league team is a fundamentals league that prepares athletes for a chance at playing for the Varsity Blues squad in Toronto. The women’s varsity team is one of the best in the country, so preparing these women here at UTM at a high level is necessary if they want to compete among the best. A significant benefit the D-league gets from having the varsity team do so well with talent is that the players that don’t make the CIS team will end up playing in the development league, hoping for another shot the next year. “I think because of the level that the varsity team is at, you get a lot of the people that don’t make it trickle down, so we do have a very competitive D-league for women,” says Persaud.
The UTM women will look to get themselves a win when they host UTSG in the RAWC on Sunday, November 20 at 1 p.m.
