
Windsor advances to Final Four with win over York
TORONTO, Ont. - The Lancer men's volleyball team advanced to the OUA Final Four Saturday afternoon following a 3-1 (26-28, 25-13, 25-23, 25-21) win over the higher seed York Lions in Toronto.
The first set remained so close it had to exceed the 25-point mark. At the technical timeout, the Lancers led 16-14. The Lancers continued to maintain the advantage and had multiple set points at 24-22. But the Lions rallied to tie it at 24-24 and then the two teams traded points until it got to 27-26. On the next point, the Lancers could not control a final serve from Logan Mend, which put the Lions the two points ahead they needed to claim the set in a final 28-26.
The Lions opened the second set by capitalizing on the Lancers' uneasiness, rolling ahead to earn two points before the Lancers were able to earn their first on a Lions error. The set unfolded with yet another closely-fought battle, though this one was short-lived. By the technical timeout the Lancers had pulled ahead to lead 16-7 and showed no signs of slowing down. Windsor continued to dominate and won the set 25-13.
In the beginning of the third set, the Lancers built themselves an early 7-4. The Lions were able to keep the Lancers within four points up to the technical timeout, where the Lancers' lead had been reduced to two points, at 16-14. Shortly after the timeout, the Lions earned two consecutive points to tie the score 16-16. The Lancers took the lead again, but the score tied again at 19-all. Though the score remained close, the Lancers pulled ahead to win by a final score of 25-23.
The Lancers carried the momentum into the fourth and raced out to a 6-2 lead. Following a brief time-out, the Lions s attempted to bounce back to tie the score at 8-8, but the Lancers would not consede the lead and fought their way to a 25-21 set win.
Despite coming close to the Lancers many times in the last half of the set, the Lions came up short in the end, finishing behind the Lancers at 25-21.
The Lancers will now advance to the OUA Final Four. Stay tuned to goLancers.ca for information as it becomes available.
Source: Windsor Lancers