AROUND OUA: Mustangs take down rival Guelph in four sets
LONDON, Ont. – Picking up their second win of the New Year, the Mustangs took down the Guelph Gryphons in four competitive sets on Friday night at Alumni Hall.
SCOREBOARD
Mustangs take down rival Guelph in four sets
LONDON, Ont. – Picking up their second win of the New Year, the Mustangs took down the Guelph Gryphons in four competitive sets on Friday night at Alumni Hall.
The win puts Western's record at 7-6, entangling them in a three way tie for fifth place in the OUA alongside Waterloo and York. The Gryphons, now ninth in the league, sit at 4-9 for the season.
Zeid Hamadeh and Mike Choja share the top spot on the scoresheet, each with 14 points. Hamadeh posted 11 kills, two service aces, and two assisted blocks to reach the mark, while Choja's ten kills were supplemented with two solo and four assisted blocks.
"It's always nice to be rewarded [with a win] in these settings for all the hard work we put into practices and in the weight room," said Hamadeh about the victory. "Any win is definitely of huge value and significance to us."
The Gryphons relied on Zach Newman, who recorded 19 points throughout the night, with Josh Green following up with 11.5 points.
The first set was twenty-five minutes of back and forth action with Western and Guelph firmly locked into that pattern.
Both teams capitalized on powerful attacks to keep rallies short and the points flowing. Western's attack was evenly dispersed, with Doug Austrom, Hamadeh, Bryn Ramsay and Evan Hammond all able to find open floor.
However, the Mustangs gave away a series of points to keep the score close. With two net violations and six missed serves on the books, unforced errors prevented the first set from being a clean sweep.
As expected, Guelph's heaviest hitters Josh Green and Zach Newman led the team offensively to each pick up three kills. The Gryphons also found success through blocking, with Green and right side Luke Would leading the effort.
However, it would be a Mustang block that would end the set at 26-24 after battling into additional points.
The game continued to be evenly matched as the teams moved into the second set. What initially appeared to be a pattern of only few points slowly extended until the second set mirrored the first.
While both Western and Guelph were able to take the lead throughout the set, neither was able to maintain momentum as the score was even across the board at 18.
As the set headed into additional points, both teams were making impressive plays that saw athletes running far beyond the constraints of the court in an attempt to keep the ball up.
The Gryphons were able to finally break the pattern, with a Western error putting the final nail in the coffin and bringing the set score to 24-26.
Guelph opened up the third set by outscoring the Mustangs 1-5 with Green continuing to serve as the primary target for setter Kyle Richards. The momentum kept rolling, until a kill from Choja brought some energy back to the Mustang end of the court.
"They couldn't stop Mike," said head coach Jim Sage. "Choja was on fire. Every time I'd signal to our setter to set him, and they would try to defend against it, but he still scored."
A few well placed blocks and a willingness to do anything to continue the play allowed the Mustangs to step out ahead and maintain their lead throughout a number of side-outs.
Helping the Mustangs along was a sharp decline in service errors and playing through a set without net violations, while the Gryphons played along by recording two service errors and almost as many attack errors as the previous two sets combined.
With Western rolling and Guelph on the decline, the third set was marked down as a purple and white victory at 25-23.
"We were down, big, to start," said Sage. "It was not looking good. The guys fought back and we started to control the match a bit."
The Mustang momentum seamlessly moved into set four, with Choja continuing to dominate as one of the top hitters on the floor. Chris Newcombe also made his presence known by blocking a Gryphon attack as soon as he joined the floor.
Guelph, down by a game-high eight points, seemed devoid of energy and were unable to stop the Mustangs from closing out the set at 25-17.
"One you're up 2-1, it's a little bit easier," said Hamadeh about Western's performance throughout the final set. "You can take a few more risks, and that probably led to a bigger [point] gap in the fourth set."
The Mustangs are in Alumni Hall tomorrow night as they take on the CIS No. 1 McMaster Marauders. The game is expected to begin at 8 p.m., with live streaming available at OUA.tv.
"It's a little tough to gauge the mentality we should be going in with," said Hamadeh. "The reality is that with a team like McMaster, a team of their calibre really requires a different mentality. Almost respecting their talents and being able to acknowledge that they're capable."
"McMaster's going to be tough," adds Sage. "Who's kidding, they're the number one team in the country, maybe even in North America for that matter. They're very competitive."
Source: Western Mustangs
The University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's volleyball team dropped a narrow 3-1 (23-25, 25-14, 16-25, 23-25) decision to the No. 8 nationally ranked Queen's Gaels on Friday, January 29 at Goldring Centre.
With the loss, the Blues drop to 8-7 but remain in fourth place in the OUA standings, while the Gaels improve to 11-3 and sit tied for second place.
Fifth-year setter Aleksa Miladinovic led Toronto with 44 assists, 14 digs, three kills, two aces and one block on the night. Third-year right side hitter Will Colucci led all players with 19 points on 18 kills and one block, while also adding 13 digs.
Veteran middle Nate Virgo had 10 kills, three blocks and eight digs, while team captain Aidan Haslett recorded eight kills and seven digs. Zia Karim chipped in with four kills, three blocks and one ace, while rookie libero Andrew Kos had 14 digs in the loss.
Down 9-2 early in the first set, the Blues rallied and brought the game within four (16-12) at the technical timeout. Toronto came within one (23-22), but a final long rally ended in favour of the Gaels, 25-23.
The Blues bounced back with a dominant second set, leading Queen's 16-10 at the break. U of T didn't stop there, going on an 8-2 run en route to a 25-14 second set victory.
After the Gaels took a 2-1 match lead with a 25-16 third set win, the Blues rallied and held an early 6-0 lead in the fourth set. Queen's bounced back though, taking a 16-13 lead at the break en route to the 25-23 fourth set win.
Marko Dakic led the Gaels with 18 kills and nine digs, while Mike Tomlinson had 14 kills and 12 digs in the win.
The Varsity Blues return to action tomorrow night (Jan. 30) as they host the RMC Paladins at Goldring Centre. Opening serve is set for 8 p.m.
Source: Toronto Varsity Blues
Balanced attack paces Rams over RMC
TORONTO – The Ryerson Rams men's volleyball team swept the RMC Paladins on Friday night to rebound from a tough loss last weekend and improve their record to 11-4 on the season. The Rams won 25-15, 25-20, 25-19.
Brandon Jordan (London, Ont.) had a game-high eight kills while Alex Dawson (Scarborough, Ont.) and Rob Wojcik (Whitby, Ont.) added seven kills each in the Rams win.
Both teams started the match with sloppy play, and both teams finished with more errors than kills, but the Rams fought their way back from a 10-8 deficit to lead 16-11 at the technical timeout before closing it out for a 25-15 set win.
The Rams held a sizeable lead in the second before RMC rallied to make things close but ultimately the Rams came away with a 25-20 win to take a 2-0 lead overall.
In the third the home side opened up a 16-7 advantage at the technical timeout but RMC continued to show some fight and closed the gap down the stretch. They came up short of the comeback, however, as the Rams completed the sweep with a 25-19 set victory.
Playing without leading scorer Lucas Coleman (Brooklin, Ont.) or middle Uchenna Ofoha (Markham, Ont.), the Rams did well to spread out their offence and get contributions from some new faces. Marko Milenkovic (Toronto) got his first start and finished with three kills, two digs and a block assist.
"Whenever we're playing well we get a lot of offence out of our middle attackers and that brings balance to everybody," said head coach Dustin Reid after the game. "You have to serve receive well enough (for that) and for the most part we did well at serve receive."
RMC's Adam Lupton had a game-high eight kills in the loss.
The Rams return to the court on Saturday night when they host the No. 8 nationally ranked Queen's Gaels (11-3) starting at 8:00 p.m. The two teams met back on October 30 in Kingston where the Rams took the game 3-0.
Source: Ryerson Rams
Mac moves to 15-0, sweeps Lancers in Windsor
Slowly reintegrating a number of injured regulars back into their lineup, Mac displayed the breadth of its roster in a straight-set sweep of the Windsor Lancers Friday.
12 different Marauders enjoyed playing time in the 25-17, 25-13, 25-23 win, as Mac improved to 15-0 atop the OUA standings.
Variety was the name of the game, with three Marauders scoring in double digits and the veteran duo of Stephen Maar and Jayson McCarthy leading the way with 10.5 apiece. McCarthy hit 8-13 with an ace and one and a half blocks, while Maar had six kills on 12 attempts, three aces and a block and a half. Enjoying extended court time while the regulars sit out, rookie outside Craig Ireland had a game high 10 kills on 17 attempts.
McMaster held Windsor to a team hitting percentage of just 8.8, while outscoring the hosts 61-24 in points earned.
The Marauders continue their road trip on Saturday night, when they wrap up the season series against the Western Mustangs in London.
Source: McMaster Marauders
