M-VOLLEYBALL ROUNDUP: Gaels extend winning streak to five games

The Gaels (7-4) kick-started the second half of their 2014-15 season by winning their fourth consecutive game, beating the Nipissing Lakers (2-9) in a three set sweep with set scores 25-15, 25-19 and 25-21.

M-VOLLEYBALL ROUNDUP: Gaels extend winning streak to five games
January 12, 2015

Friday, January 9

Nipissing 0 @ Queen's 3

The Gaels (7-4) kick-started the second half of their 2014-15 season by winning their fourth consecutive game, beating the Nipissing Lakers (2-9) in a three set sweep with set scores 25-15, 25-19 and 25-21.

The Gaels took an early lead against the Lakers in the first set asWill Hoey (Brampton, Ont.) opened the scoring with a kill.  Queen's offensive attacks were too much for Nipissing to handle as the Gaels easily pulled away from the competition.  Philippe Goyer(Ottawa) finished the set for Queen's with an attack that made it through a Laker block to take the set 25-15.
 
In the second set the Lakers opened the scoring with a kill that the Gaels were unable to control.  Markus Trence (Orangeville, Ont.) quickly answered back for the Gaels with a sly touch over a Lakers block.  Queen's started to pull away but Nipissing managed to tie the set up at 10-10.  Three straight points from Gaels attacks and two back-to-back attacking errors by the Lakers allowed the Gaels to take the set 25-19.
 
Once again, the Lakers opened the scoring in the final set off a Gaels attacking error.  The scoring went back and forth between the two teams in what was by far the closest competitive set as neither team was able to pull away.  In the final frame, four kills by Mike Tomlinson (Stratford, Ont.), finishing with an unstoppable cross-court kill, allowed the Gaels to overtake the Lakers 25-21 in three straight sets.
 
Goyer was top scorer for Queen's with 16 kills, one serving ace and 11 digs while Tomlinson was close behind with 10 kills and four digs.  Nipissing saw Cameron Branch match Goyer for kills. 

Waterloo 3 @ Toronto 1

The University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's volleyball team dropped a 3-1 (19-25, 18-25, 25-16, 19-25) decision to the Waterloo Warriors on Friday, January 9 at Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport.


With the loss, the Blues fall to 3-9, while the Warriors improve to 8-4. The match marked the Varsity Blues volleyball grand opening game at the new Goldring Centre.

The new Ron Kimel Field House in the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport is arguably the best court facility in the CIS. The 2,000-seat international standard field house for basketball and volleyball also features a high performance strength and conditioning centre overlooking Varsity Stadium and a state-of-the-art sport medicine clinic. 

Fifth-year left side hitter Jake Dysselhof of Mississauga led the Blues with seven kills and seven digs, while Dave Merritt and Trevor Grant each had six kills on the night. Kyle Fick and Alex Ferris notched 10 and 13 digs, respectively. Fourth-year setter Steven Khuu tallied 30 assists and nine digs in the loss.

Both teams traded points in the first set, with neither holding more than a four-point lead. The Blues went on a 6-4 run and Waterloo led 16-14 at the technical timeout. The Warriors extended their lead with a 4-1 streak out of the break and a final kill from Jordan McConkey won it 25-19 in favour of Waterloo.

The Blues got out to a 5-2 lead in the second set but the Warriors rallied with a 5-2 streak of their own to even the score at 7-7. The two squads went back and forth and were still even at 10-10. A 6-2 run gave Waterloo a 16-12 lead at the technical time out and the Warriors went onto to take it 25-18.

Tied 7-7 in the early goings of the third, Toronto went on a 9-3 streak, and held a 16-10 advantage at the technical timeout. Trevor Grant and Dave Merritt  came up with some big points as U of T cruised to the 25-16 third set victory.

The fourth set started as a see-saw battle, and remained close as Waterloo had a 16-13 lead at the break. The Warriors cushioned their lead and sealed the four-set win with a 25-19 victory.  

Fourth-year Warriors veteran Zachary Doherty led all players with 13 kills, while Aidan Simone had nine. Erich Woolley notched a team-high 15 digs in the win.

 
Windsor 2 @ Western 3

Coming back from a two-set deficit, the Western Mustangs defeated the Windsor Lancers 3-2 (16-25, 21-25, 25-14, 25-23, 15-11) on Friday night at Alumni Hall, marking not only a return to regular season action, but also heralded the return of the Mustangs as a force to be reckoned with on the volleyball court.

With the win the Mustangs hold a 6-5 record, moving them into a tie with Queen's and York for fifth place in the OUA standings, although both teams have a game in hand on Western. The Lancers fall to 4-7 on the season, directly behind the three teams tied for fifth.
 
"We walked out and didn't really fight very hard in the first set today," said assistant coach Rob Atkinson. "We thought maybe we could just play well and that [the win] would come easily, but Windsor showed up to give us a battle. We just had to get our heads around that."
 
After opening up the first set with a Mustang blocking error, the two teams mirrored each other and traded kills and errors one for one. Capitalizing on the defensive errors of the purple and white, Windsor pulled away and left the Mustangs trailing 6-10.
 
Keeping the Mustangs at an arms length and maintaining their lead, the Lancers forced the Mustangs into a timeout at 11-19, and again at 14-21.
 
Windsor quickly hammered out the remaining points, interrupted only by a kill from Chris Newcombe, and a missed serve to end the set at 16-25.
 
The Lancers again were the first up on the scoreboard, but had yet to break away from the Mustangs at 5-5.  Utilizing strong blocks the Mustangs remained tight to the Windsor score at 9-12.
After falling behind by four points at 12-16, the Mustangs called their first timeout of the set. Returning to the court, the Mustangs were hit with powerful attacks and consistent serving, pushing them further behind the Lancers at 14-21.
 
Unwilling to let the set escape them, the Mustangs adjusted with powerful blocks and returned to close the gap at 19-23. However, they were unable to hold off the Lancers from their last few points and the second set ended at 21-25 on a Mustang defensive error.
 
Opening up the third set with renewed vigor, the Mustangs were ahead for the first time in the match and pushed the Lancers to call a timeout at 6-1. Continuing to hammer through blocks and improving upon defensive play, the Mustangs brought the score to 13-5 and prompted a second timeout from Windsor.
Continuing to slam the Lancers with a series of strong attacks and an impenetrable defence, the Mustangs closed out the third set 25-14 following a blocking error from Windsor.
 
The fourth set, much like those previous, began with an exchange of points that left the teams tied at 10-10. Pulling ahead after consecutive Mustang errors, the Lancers pulled ahead at 10-12 and extended their lead to four points. Forced into a timeout at 16-20, the Mustangs struggled with the defensive holes that were exploited by the Lancers earlier in the match.
 
Returning to the court, Justin Scapinello scored two consecutive points for the Mustangs with a kill and block to force the Lancers into a timeout of their own.
Seemingly unaffected by the interruption, the Mustangs quickly eradicated the point gap to tie up the match at 21-21 following another Windsor timeout. Despite being briefly stalled at 24 points, the Mustangs ended the fourth set on a kill from Gavin Taylor, clinching the set with a 25-23 score.
The Mustangs came out swinging in the fifth, taking a 4-1 lead and causing Windsor to call an early timeout. Despite maintaining the lead throughout the set, the Mustangs were stalled at fourteen points as the Lancers rallied to close the point gap.
 
Ending on a kill from Mike Choja, the Mustangs won the final set 15-11.
 
"We came out a little bit slow," said Scapinello - who led all players in total points on the night. "[Windsor] played awesome, they were hitting shots that we couldn't stop and something just clicked and we knew we had to fight. They stopped hitting those impossible shots and we turned it around."
 
Scapinello continues to lead the Mustangs in points, earning 22.5 throughout the five sets. Gabriel Burlacu of the Lancers followed closely behind with 19.5, with fellow Lancer Jake MacNeil just behind with 17 points.
 

Source: Western Mustangs

Saturday, January 10

York 3 @ RMC 0

The York University Lions men's volleyball team opened up the new year with a straight sets victory over the RMC Paladins on Saturday (Jan. 10) in Kingston, Ont.

The Lions won the first set 25-13, the second 25-22 and the third 25-10.
 
In the first set the Lions completed 13 kills and had only three errors compared to the Paladins six kills and seven errors.
 
In the second set the Lions completed 13 kills and had five errors compared to the Paladin's seven kills and four errors.
 
In the final set the Lions completed 15 kills and had only one error while the Paladins only completed two kills and had three errors.
 
Leaders of the game from the Lions' side included Nicolas Pirnat (Ottawa) with 15 kills, two aces and one block, Arthur Swarcz (Toronto) with six kills and one block and Tim Jensen (Hamilton, Ont.) with four kills and one ace.
 
Leaders for the Paladins included Blake McClelland with four kills, one ace and two blocks, Trevor Melcher with four kills and two blocks and Michael Peet with three kills.
 
The Lions are in fifth place in the OUA standings with a record of 7-4 while the Paladins sit at the bottom with a record of 0-11.

Source: York Lions

Ryerson 3 @ Waterloo 1

The Waterloo Warriors volleyball team battled the 3rd seed Ryerson Rams on Saturday afternoon at the PAC in front of a raucous crowd. After Waterloo won the first set, Ryerson won three straight in exciting fashion (28-26, 21-25, 33-35, 20-25). Waterloo moves to 8-5 while Ryerson improve to 9-4 on the campaign. Waterloo split with Toronto-based teams on the weekend.

Both teams opened with a 3-3 tie and it was evident this was going to be a battle of attrition. Gibson Graham (Markham) was running a very quick offence and the Warriors jumped out to a 10-7 lead after a massive kill by Zachary Doherty (Goderich) before Ryerson were forced to use a timeout. Ryerson closed the gap to 20-18 in favour of the black and gold before forcing Ryerson to use their second timeout when leading 22-19. After the Rams stole the next three points and the set was later tied 25-25, Waterloo would get 3 of the next 4 points to close out the set with a 28-26 victory.

Not much changed in the second frame and both teams opened tied at 8 points a side. Ryerson started to swing the momentum in their favour and took 6 of the next 8 points to force Head Coach Chris Lawson into a timeout with his team trailing 14-10. Ryerson led 16-13 at the technical timeout but would close the gap to 17-16 in favour of the Rams. The timeout seemed to rally the blue and white and they would sail to a 25-21 victory to knot the match at 1 set each.

Ryerson exploded out of the game in the third set with a 7-3 lead and Lawson again had to use a timeout early. Jordan McConkey (Stratford) had a solid game for the Warriors and helped get Waterloo back into the game which was pushed to 21-21. Ryerson had a slight edge with a 23-22 lead and the match went the distance when it was tied at 28-28. Both teams had opportunities at set point to steal the frame but both sides continued to concede timely service errors and were unable to close out the set. The rams would eventually win a marathon set 35-33 and take a 2-1 lead in the match.

In the fourth and potentially deciding set, Trevor Coathup (Ottawa), who was getting a rare start for the Warriors, was helping out on offence when he made a spectacular diving dig that eventually would have been credited for a kill and helped Waterloo to a 6-4 lead. Ryerson would change their fortunes and force the black and gold into a timeout with a 12-8 lead. Multiple jousts at the net made for some intense individual battles but Ryerson seemed to be winning the majority and extended their lead to 18-14. Both sides would exchange points to close out the set before Ryerson won the set 25-20 and eventually the match 3-1.

Waterloo's Doherty led the way with 15 kills, 11 digs and 3 blocks while McConkey chipped in nicely with 12 kills (2nd best percentage in the OUA), 6 blocks and 3 digs. Graham had 43 assists, 9 digs and 3 blocks while Erich Woolley (New Dundee) added to his OUA-lead in digs (2nd in CIS) with 14 and 2 assists on the evening.

Ryerson's Lucas Coleman was dominant19 kills, 3 service aces and 6 digs while Alex Dawson had 12 kills, 5 digs and 3 blocks. Setter Adam Anagnostopoulos had a marvelous afternoon with 45 assists and 10 digs.

Source: Waterloo Warriors

 
Guelph 3 @ Toronto 1

The University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's volleyball team fell to the Guelph Gryphons in a 3-1 match (18-25, 21-25, 26-24, 15-25) on Saturday, January 10 at Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport.

Fifth-year left side hitter Jake Dysselhof of Mississauga led the Blues with 18 kills, six digs and two blocks.

Alex Park tallied nine kills and nine digs, while middle Trevor Grant also had nine kills and two blocks.  Libero Alex Ferris led all players with 16 digs, while fellow rookie Wells Hick recorded 39 assists and 10 digs in only his second game in the Blue and White.

The Gryphons took the first set 25-18, building a nine-point lead at the technical time out. Marc Wilson led the Gryphons attack through the first set, with the Blues Zia Karim turning heads early in the match.  

The second set proved to be a much tighter game, with neither team able to go on substantial runs.  Despite several kills from Dysselhof and a four-point streak, the Gryphons took the second with a score of 25-21.

By the technical timeout of the third frame, the Blues had taken a 16-15 lead over Guelph. Fourth-year middle Nathaniel Virgo was instrumental in helping U of T force a fourth as the Blues took the set 26-24.

The Gryphons got out to an early 5-2 lead in the fourth and despite a rallying effort from Dysselhof, Guelph went on a 10-0 run and sealed the win 25-15.

Luke Woud led the Gyrphons with 14 kills, nine digs and three blocks, while Joshua Green had nine kills and eight digs in the win.

 

McMaster 3 @ Western 0

Looking for redemption after the Western Mustangs handed them their only defeat of the season back in October, the McMaster Marauders avenged their early season loss and defeated the Mustangs in three sets (11-25, 21-25, 14-25) on Saturday night at Alumni Hall.

 
With the loss, the Mustangs remain in sixth place in the OUA with a 6-6 record, while the Marauders maintain their spot in first with a 10-1 mark.
 
"I'm a little disappointed that we didn't put up more of a fight," said Mustangs head coach Jim Sage.
 
"We're the only team to beat [McMaster] this year, so we knew they were going to come out with a lot of push, and they did. They execute very well. As soon as you make three errors you're in big trouble because that's so hard to come back from. They struggled a little in the second set, but then they were right back in it."
 
The Mustangs were the first up on the scoreboard, opening up the match with a triple block to half the Marauder attack. Despite taking the first points of the set McMaster soon caught up with the score at 5-5 and proceeded to push the Mustangs into a three-point deficit.
 
A series of consecutive kills allowed the Marauders to extend their lead by eight points at 11-19.
 
Despite an energetic defence that saw the Mustangs running and diving to save every ball and extend play, Western was unable to combat the strength of McMaster at the net.
 
With a double block from Brandon Koppers and Alex Elliot, the Marauders took the first set 11-25.  
 
Chris Newcombe earned the first point of the second set with a powerful block that sent the Marauders reeling and unable to salvage the point.
 
The Mustangs struggled to defend against the onslaught of attacks coming from McMaster, who had totaled 14 kills in the earlier set.
 
Utilizing the consistent serving of Doug Austrom, the Mustangs rallied to pull themselves back into the set after a five point deficit and brought the score to 20-21. However, the Mustangs continued to struggle with the power of McMaster at the net, as the second set ended at 21-25 on a block from Stephen Maar.
 
The third set opened up with an exchange of points, with the Marauders having more difficultly keeping the Mustang score low. Trailing behind McMaster by only one point at 5-6, Western focused on strategically placing attacks as opposed to putting speed onto every hit.
 
Retaliating by putting more energy into their defence and closing holes, the Marauders had the Mustangs doubled at 9-18, and again at 11-22.
 
The third and final set ended on a kill from the Marauders at 14-25.
 
"It's hard going up against one of the toughest teams in the country," said third-year Mustang Mike Choja. "To come out against them is really a test to see where we need to be by the end of the season, it's a good benchmark that way. We're just looking forward right now, we've got Toronto on Friday coming up and a good week of practice ahead of us."

 

Sunday, January 11

McMaster 3 @ Windsor 0

The Lancer men's volleyball team was swept 3-0 (11-25, 23-25, 17-25) by the No. 2 ranked McMaster Marauders on Sunday afternoon at the St. Denis Centre.

 
With the loss, the Lancers fall to 4-8 on the season, while the Marauders improve to 11-1 and remain in first place in the OUA.
 
The Marauders dominated the Lancers on both sides of the ball in the first set with 10 blocks and 10 kills. In the second, Windsor made many strategic changes, including add a three man block, to help lessen the success of the Marauder attack.
 
Multiple errors from the Marauders allowed the Lancers to take the lead for the first time in the second set, however were unable to secure the set win. In the third set, the Lancers did not lower their game and keep up team moral, but McMaster still took the set and secured the game after many long rallies.
 
Windsor was led by Gabriel Burlacu with nine kills and five digs, and Greg Simone with eight.
 
Andrew Richards led the visiting Marauders with 10 kills, while Danny Demyanenko contributed eight kills.

 

York 0 @ Queen's 3

This Sunday the Gaels (8-4) continued their five-game winning streak as they defeated the York Lions (7-5) in a three set sweep, 25-12, 26-24 and 26-24.

 
Will Hoey (Brampton, Ont.) set the tone for the match as he opened and closed the scoring for the Gaels in the first set.  Queen's took advantage of Yorks over eager attacks and responded with their own successful attacks.  Hoey and Mike Tomlinson (Stratford, Ont.) brought the set to game point with an assisted block, shutting down the Lions attack and allowing Hoey to finish the set off for the Gaels 25-12.
 
Yorks Josh Henderson opened the scoring in the second set with a cross-court kill Queen's was unable to control.  Tomlinson and Tyler Scheerhorn (Belleville, Ont.) made trouble for York and caught them off guard with their powerful serves.  The Gaels managed to pull away from York at the seven-point mark but a four-point streak by the Lions brought the game neck and neck as it was tied at 21-21.  Both teams fought hard and a serving error by the Gaels tied the score up again at 24-24.  Back-to-back kills by Philippe Goyer (Ottawa) and Tomlinson gave Queen's the win over the Lions in the second set. 
 
In the final set both teams fought hard and dug deep to provide the crowd with some exciting rallies but the Gaels managed to open the scoring with an attack from Hoey.  Scoring went back and forth between the two teams right up until the tied 24-point mark where two strategic blocks by the Gaels stopped the Lions attack, giving Queen's the match again at 26-24.
 
The leading scorers for the Gaels were Goyer and Tomlinson.  Goyer had 13 kills and one serving ace while Tomlinson had 10 kills with one serving ace.  The top scorer in today's match was the York Lions Ray Szeto with the game high of 17 kills.   Queen's put in a tremendous effort on defence this afternoon with a total of 11 team blocks to successfully shutdown the Lions attacks.

 
Other scores

Nipissing 3 @ RMC 0