Marquee Matchup: No. 4 Blues pull out five-set thriller over No. 2 Rams

Photo by Seyran Mammadov
Photo by Seyran Mammadov
November 23, 2019

Toronto (via Toronto Varsity Blues) - The No. 4 nationally-ranked University of Toronto Varsity Blues women’s volleyball team upset the No. 2 Ryerson Rams 3-2 (25-13, 25-15, 20-25, 24-26, 15-9) in this week’s OUA Marquee Matchup on Friday, November 22 at Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport.

Both teams now sit atop the OUA East division with identical 7-1 records as Toronto handed Ryerson their first loss of the 2019-20 regular season and evened the season series at 1-1.

HOW IT HAPPENED: The home team came out ready to play and dominated the first two sets. Toronto built a 16-9 lead at the first set technical timeout and cruised to a 25-13 victory. The Blues followed that up by taking a dominant 16-8 advantage at the second set technical timeout and took a 2-0 match lead, 25-15.

The Rams then flipped the switch in the third and fourth to even the match up. Ryerson held 16-15 leads at both technical timeouts and came away with 25-20 and 26-24 wins to force a fifth and deciding set.

U of T regrouped quickly and built an 8-4 lead at the fifth-set switch. Despite a late comeback attempt from the Rams, the Blues closed out the match with a 15-9 victory.

TORONTO STATS: Fifth-year right side hitter Alina Dormann led all players with 24 points off of 18 kills, three aces and three blocks, while also notching 12 digs on the night.

Third-year middle Jenna Woock racked up 16 points off of 11 kills, four blocks and one ace, while fifth-year left side Caleigh Cruickshank had nine points off of six kills, two aces and one block.

Rookie setter Lidya Canturk tallied 35 assists and 15 digs, with fifth-year libero Asli Ersozoglu recording a team-high 22 digs in the win.

RYERSON STATS: Fourth-year right side hitter Cailin Wark led the Rams with 15 points, all from kills, and six digs. Fifth-year outside hitter Brett Hagarty recorded 12 points off of 10 kills and two aces and led all players with 30 digs on the night.

Sophomore setter Lauren Wong tallied 29 assists and 14 digs in the loss.