Varsity Blues clinch home court advantage with 3-2 win over Mustangs

For the first time since the 2003-04 season, the University of Toronto men's volleyball team will host an OUA playoff game following a 3-2 (25-18, 29-31, 31-29, 19-25, 15-11) Varsity Blues victory over the Western Mustangs on Friday night (Feb. 19) at the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport.

The Blues have clinched at least fourth place and hosting rights for next Saturday's OUA quarter-final round. It marks the first OUA men's volleyball playoff game at the new state-of-the-art Goldring Centre and U of T's first post-season berth since 2012-13. Toronto's women will start the quarter-final doubleheader at 1 p.m., with the men slated for opening serve at 3:30 p.m. Opponents are TBD.

Fifth-year setter Aleksa Miladinovic earned player of the match honours, tallying a career-high 57 assists, while adding nine digs and one kill on the night.

Third-year right side hitter Will Colucci led the Blues with 21 points on 17 kills and four blocks and added 12 digs, with fifth-year veteran Stefan Ristic notching 20 points on 18 kills and two aces and adding nine digs.

Fifth-year middle Nate Virgo had 15 kills, one block and 11 digs, with sophomore Alex Ferris recording 10 kills, two blocks, one ace and 12 digs. Rookie libero Andrew Kos had 11 digs in the victory.

Western was led by Evan Cranshaw's 23-point performance, while setter Matt Hooker tallied a game-high 58 assists and 21 digs in the loss.

The Varsity Blues close out the regular season versus the Windsor Lancers tomorrow night at Goldring Centre at 8 p.m. The game will be streamed live on OUA.tv.

Source: Toronto Varsity Blues