M-VOLLEYBALL ROUNDUP: Three teams sweep weekend action

Ryerson Rams @ Western Mustangs

LONDON, Ont. – The Western Mustangs (10-0) kicked off the New Year with a 3-0 win over the Ryerson Rams (2-7) Friday night at Alumni Hall with set scores of 25-15, 25-16 and 25-22.

The Mustangs were up 12-7 in the first set when the Rams called timeout, but had built their lead to 16-8 by the first technical timeout. Smart defense secured the set with a score of 25-15.

Aces from Phil James in the second gave Western another lead early on. By the technical timeout, Western led 19-12 and wrapped up the set 25-16.

Ryerson outplayed Western for most of the third set and overall attacks were 33-25 in favour of the Rams. Tied up 16, the Mustangs slowly gained momentum and increased the points spread to a win of 25-22.

Garrett May led the Mustangs with 13 kills and three digs. James has four serve aces.

Marc Reardon had two serve aces and Roman Kabanov seven kills and 11 total attacks for the Rams.

Western will host Toronto at 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 7 at Alumni Hall.

The Gryphon men’s volleyball team won their first match of 2012 this evening (Jan. 7) defeating the Queens Golden Gaels three games to two. Set scores were 25-23, 21-25, 14-25, 25-22, and 15-13.

The win lifts the Gryphons to 7-3 while the Gaels drop to 5-5 in the OUA.

The Gryphons middle attack and defense had an incredible afternoon with Marc Wilson (Stratford, ON) leading the way with 12 kills and four stuff blocks, Greg Houston (Chatham ON) had seven kills, three digs and four stuff blocks and one ace.

The match was a real seesaw battle going back and forth. The Gryphons showed great resiliency in the fourth set coming back to win after being humbly beat in the third set.

Gryphons emotional leader Drew Whitaker (Sharon, ON) stepped up in the fourth and fifth set leading the Gryphons in a huge battle of the wills. Drew finished the night with 15 kills, seven digs and two stuff blocks.

The fifth set was a fight with both teams eager for the win. In that fifth set, fourth year setter Kevin Carey (Grande Prairie, AB) did a great job distributing the ball to the best players on the floor finding All Canadian, Winston Rosser (Whitby, ON) for two huge points in the set to take the lead.

Winston finished with 13 kills, seven digs and two stuff blocks. Ryan Killeen (Oakville, ON) and Whitaker helped secure the eventual win with two huge stuff blocks demoralizing the Gaels outside attack.

The Warrior men's volleyball team improved to .500 on the season cruising to a straight set victory over the RMC Paladins on Friday night in Kingston.  In what was their first contest of 2012, the Warriors received a well balanced attack winning 25-12, 25-17 and 25-12.

The Paladins fell to 0-10 on the season while Waterloo evened their record at 5-5 and sit tied for fifth place in the OUA with the Queen's Gaels who they go to battle with on Saturday.

The Warriors were led by Zachary Doherty (Goderich) who had seven kills, two service aces and two blocks in the match.  Chipping in offensively was Aleks Poldma (Toronto/Warriors) who has six kills and four blocks in the win.  Brandon Baker (Orleans) and Scott Thomson (St. Marys) shared setting duties with 19 and 10 assists respectively.

The Lancer men’s volleyball team opened up the second half of their schedule with a pair of home sweeps against the Toronto Varsity Blues and the Ryerson Rams.
 
With the two wins, Windsor is 8-3 on the year and in second place in the OUA standings.
 
In the first game back after the holiday break, the Lancers defeated Toronto 3-1 (19-25, 25-22, 25-17, 25-22) in a tight match. 
 
Toronto took game one using a balanced offensive attack with 6 players recording kills while Kyle Williamson countered with 7 of his own kills for Windsor. 
 
Game two was a see-saw battle with no team going up by more than two until Windsor took the set by three.  Ryan Le lead the way in the second set with 6 kills. Game three saw the Lancers go up by scores of 6-1 and 16-10 to hold on for a 25-17 win. The Lancers were lead in this set by Scott Kickman and Jimmy El-Turk who controlled the net for the Lancers. 
 
The final game was a great set that started and ended with long rallies with the Lancers eventually taking both points. Harrison Oake lead the Lancers with 5 kills and Mitchell Woodside countered for the Blues with 6 kills of his own.
 
Overall, Windsor Oake finished with 12 kills, while Williamson contributed 11. Defensively Andrew Foster had a game high 10 digs.
 
On Saturday, the Lancers had a strong showing against the Rams beating them soundly in three sets (13-25, 16-25, 18-25).
 
Team leaders for the Lancers were Will Alexander with 27 assists, new addition Timothee Jaumel with 12 kills, and Foster with 12 digs.
 
For the Rams, Aleksa Miladinovic had 18 assists, Marc Reardon had 5 kills, and George Sakvarelidze had 4 digs.
 
Windsor hits the road next weekend to take on the Waterloo Warriors on Friday night and the Guelph Gryphons on Saturday.  

LONDON, Ont. – For the second night in a row, the Mustangs (11-0) swept their opponent 3-0. Tonight, at Alumni Hall, the Varsity Blues (2-9) were the victim with set scores of 25-22, 25-17 and 25-13.

Western set the tone for the match in the first set going up 9-4 before Toronto called a timeout. Right before the technical timeout, Toronto managed to climb back from a 14-8 deficit bringing the score to 16-13. Serves from Mathew Waite and offense from Derek Kuiack powered the Mustangs through to the end of the set with a score of 25-22.

The Mustangs comfortably took the second set 25-17.

A strong defensive game gave Western an advantage in the third set, allowing Toronto to reach only 13 points. Leading 24-13, a block from Sean McKay and Jack Creaghan gave the Mustangs the last point needed, and the match.

Garrett May (5 kills, 20 total attacks), Kuiack (5 kills, 11 total attacks) and Phil James led the Western offense.

Mitchell Woodside and Matthew Vares each had nine kills and 22 total attacks for the Varsity Blues.

Undefeated in regular season action this year, the nationally-ranked No. 6 Mustangs will travel to Guelph (7-3) on Jan. 13 and Waterloo (5-5) on Jan. 14 before returning home on Jan. 20 to play the Windsor Lancers.

KINGSTON, Ont. (January 8, 2012) - Joren Zeeman of Cambridge, Ont. had a game high 24 kills as the Gaels (6-5) held on for a five set win over the Waterloo Warriors (5-6) on Sunday afternoon in Kingston. After taking the first two sets, the Warriors battled back taking two straight of their own. The Gaels closed out set five for the 3-2 match win, set scores finished 25-23, 25-22, 22-25, 22-25, 15-11.

After finishing as the Gaels male athlete of the week to close out 2011, Jackson Dakin of Courtenay, B.C. continued his strong play contributing a game high 55 assists while adding nine digs, six kills and a block. The Warriors were led by Fiodar Kazhamiaka of Waterloo, Ont. who had 19 kills while Scott Thomson of St. Marys, Ont. added 43 assists.

The Gaels opened up with two straight set wins but were unnable to close out the game as the Warriors took sets three and four 25-22 on both occasions. The fifth and final set followed the same pattern as the previous four with both teams exchanging points at a continued back and forth pace. Zeeman secured multiple late game points off powerfull kills to secure the eventual 15-11 set and match victory.

The Gaels improve to 6-5 on the year with the win and now sit fifth in the OUA standings.

Queen's will travel to Hamilton on January 14 to take on the McMaster Marauders next Saturday.

January 6, 2012
Toronto, 1 @ Windsor, 3
Ryerson, 0 @ Western, 3