M-VOLLEYBALL WEEKEND ROUNDUP: McMaster extends win streak to 17 against Waterloo
The University of Guelph Men's Volleyball team lost in straight sets versus the Waterloo Warriors on Friday night at the W.F. Mitchell Athletics Centre. Set scores were 25-19, 30-28 and 25-17 in favour of the Warriors. With the loss, the Gryphons fall to 8-9 on the season while Waterloo improves to 13-5.
Friday, January 30
Waterloo 3 @ Guelph 0
The University of Guelph Men's Volleyball team lost in straight sets versus the Waterloo Warriors on Friday night at the W.F. Mitchell Athletics Centre. Set scores were 25-19, 30-28 and 25-17 in favour of the Warriors. With the loss, the Gryphons fall to 8-9 on the season while Waterloo improves to 13-5.
The first set would start of with a big rally, as Patrick Strazlkowski (St. Catherine's, ON) would end it with a solo block for the first point of the game. The crowd would ignite and the Gryphons would feel the energy of the building behind them. Waterloo, however, would not let it get to them, as they would out-kill the Gryphons in the set 14-10 to win the set 25-19.
Set number two was intense to say the least. Guelph would be first to 16 points, with great play from Connor Cressman (Waterloo, ON) and Joshua Green (Georgetown, ON). At 24-23 Waterloo, the teams would play a huge rally that would go in favour of the Gryphons finally, after multiple hits and digs from each side. When the dust settled on a wild second set, it was the Warriors who came out on top 30-28.
The Warriors would carry the momentum from that second set into the third. Braden Cok (Waterloo, ON) and Aaron Wiersma (St. Catherines) would lead Waterloo in kills while Gibson Graham (Markham, ON) had 43 assists. The Warriors would win the final set 25-17 and take the match three sets to zero.
Joshua Green would be the stand out player for Guelph with 6 kills and 4 digs. The Gryphons have two matches remaining on their regular season schedule, both at home.
Nipissing 0 @ Ryerson 3
The No. 10 ranked Ryerson Rams men's volleyball team swept the visiting Nipissing Lakers (25-16, 26-24, 25-16) on Friday night at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.
Robert Wojcik (Whitby, Ont.) had a game-high 13 kills while Lucas Coleman(Brooklin, Ont.) added 11 to lead the Rams.
Back in the cozy confines of Coca-Cola Court for the first time since November 29, 2014, the Rams showed they were glad to be back by opening the first set on a 10-0 run to take control right from the get go. The Rams led 16-5 at the technical timeout and cruised to a 25-16 first set win.
"You can tell (we) felt comfortable right out of the gate with a 10-0 start," said assistant coach Chris McLaughlin following the match. "It's a good sign we feel comfortable on our home court and it's good to be back."
Nipissing responded well, however, as they opened a five-point lead at 9-4 before extending that to six at the second set technical timeout. Ryerson began to chip away at the deficit and started to earn two points to every one Lakers point to rally back and tie the set at 22-22. Nipissing held set point at 24-23 but three straight Ryerson kills completed the comeback and gave the Rams a 26-24 set win to go up 2-0 in the match.
"It's a product of our other games," said Wojcik following the match on the team's ability to rally back in the second. "We didn't give up, we didn't get angry at each other; we just kept playing our volleyball and it ended up working for us."
Both teams made runs to start the third set and the Rams led by just two at the technical timeout but from there Ryerson scored nine of the next 11 points to wrap up the third set at 25-16 to finish the sweep.
Nipissing's Andrew McWiggan had a team-high six kills while Jack Peckham added five and posted four solo blocks.
York 3 @ Toronto 1
The University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's volleyball team fell 3-1 (18-25, 25-17, 22-25, 22-25) to the York Lions on Friday, January 30 at the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport.
Fifth-year left side hitter Jake Dysselhof had 13 kills, one block and one ace for 15 points, earning his 1,000th career regular season point.
Fourth-year right side hitter Kyle Fick notched 10 kills, four blocks and two aces, while veteran middle Nate Virgo added 10 kills, two blocks and one ace.
Michael Denton tallied 41 assists and five digs. Rookie libero Alex Feris notched a game-high 12 digs in the loss.
York was led by Ray Szeto's 17-kill performance.
With the loss, the Blues drop to 4-14 and remain in ninth place in the OUA standings.
Saturday, January 31
McMaster 3 @ Waterloo 1
One streak came to an end on Saturday, but the more important mark continued. McMaster dropped their first set since Halloween, but extended their OUA win streak to 17 matches with a 3-1 victory over the Waterloo Warriors.
Having already clinched the top spot in the OUA with a win on Thursday, the CIS no. 1-ranked Marauders extended their lead atop the conference and moved to 17-1 on the season. Waterloo, meanwhile, missed an opportunity to leapfrog the Ryerson Rams — who lost a four-set decision to York — for the second spot in the conference, and fell to 13-6 on the season.
Stephen Maar was the star on Saturday, thumping down 15 kills on 27 attempts versus just four errors (.407) and adding three aces and 2.5 blocks for a game-high 20.5 points. The trio of middles Danny Demyanenko and Alex Elliot and outside Jayson McCarthy also entered double digits in scoring, posting 15.5, 13 and 12 points respectively. Setter Austin Campion-Smith continued to create at a remarkable clip, posting 54 assists in four sets of work.
Neither team's offence was operating at full capacity in the opening set, but despite hitting just .179 in the frame, the Marauders saw off the Warrior challenge by a three-point margin to take the set 25-22. McMaster's hitters came alive in the second, committing just three errors versus 18 kills (.405) to seal another closely-contested set 25-21 and give themselves a 2-0 stranglehold on the match.
The Warriors, however, mounted a response in the third, and amazingly completed the set without committing a single hitting error. Hitting cleanly and slowing the Marauders on the other side of the net, the Warriors clawed a set back by a 25-21 score, claiming the first set from McMaster since York took a consolation set in a 3-1 loss on Halloween.
One streak was over, as the Marauders saw their stretch of 11 consecutive sweeps come to an end. But McMaster reacted quickly to reassert control, and improved their game on both the offensive and defensive sides to hold Waterloo even at nine kills and nine errors while posting a .379 percetange. The end result was a dominant set won by a nine-point margin, as McMaster swept the season series with Waterloo.
RMC 0 @ Windsor 3
The Lancer men's volleyball team earned their second consecutive victory with a 3-0 (25-11, 25-13, 25-22) sweep over the RMC Paladins on Breast Cancer Awareness Day on Saturday.
With the win, the Lancers are 7-10 on the year and are still fighting for the final playoff spot. The Paladins continue to look for their first win of the season.
Led by some strong serving from Andrew Chelladuri and seven kills by Chad Hinchy, the Lancers quickly took the first set.
In the second, the Paladins continued to have a tough time of the serve receive preventing them from having a strong offensive presence.
In the third set, Lancer head coach James Gravelle made some substitutions to give their bench some game time experience. With the new starting line-up, the Lancers lost a bit of their grove and gave the Paladins an early lead.
However, Windsor found their rhythm quickly and inched themselves out of the Paladins grasp to earn the win.
Windsor was led by Gabriel Burlacu with 8 kills and 4 digs, while Steven Reaume also had 8 kills and two blocks.Andrew Wasyluk chipped in seven digs defensively.
The Paladins were led by Adam Lupton with 13 kills.
York 3 @ Ryerson 2
The No. 10 Ryerson Rams men's volleyball team lost a five-set marathon (28-30, 25-15, 25-22, 17-25, 13-15) to the York Lions on Saturday night at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.
The match lasted nearly 2.5 hours as the rival squads battled back and forth to determine a winner. The first set of the game set the tone for the match as it went to extra points before York came away with a 30-28 win.
The Rams responded well after the loss and got some inspired play from middleUchenna Ofoha (Markham, Ont.) who put on a blocking display to help the Rams to a 16-7 advantage at the technical timeout. The home side cruised from there, winning the set 25-15 to tie the match at ones.
In the third, the Rams held a slim 16-15 lead at the technical timeout before the teams traded runs. Ryerson led 20-16 before York rallied to make it a one-point game but the Rams then closed the set at 25-22 to take a 2-1 advantage.
Ryerson's play in the fourth got sloppy and the Lions took advantage as it was the visitors' turn to lead large at the technical timeout at 16-9. Ryerson trailed by as many as nine but rallied to get back within five at 20-15 but the Lions closed the set at 25-17 to send the match to a fifth set.
Both teams fought point for point to start the deciding set before a Rams attack went long to give York an 8-6 lead at the switch. Ryerson rallied, however, as aLucas Coleman (Brooklin, Ont.) service ace tied the set at 12-12. After a York timeout, middle Arthur Swarcz took over, posting two of his seven kills in the vital part of the match to help the Lions to a 15-13 victory to complete the come-from-behind match win.
"Unfortunately they (York) just got a couple bounces in the fifth set and that's volleyball; sometimes it's just a two-point game at the end after about two and a half hours of play and it falls with them getting the win. A tough loss for us," said assistant coach Chris McLaughlin following the match.
Ryerson setter Adam Anagnostopoulos (Waterloo, Ont.) recorded 49 assists in the match and spoke afterwards about the ups and downs during a match of that length.
"In terms of our mindset I think that we were a little bit on a roller coaster tonight. We chose which games we wanted to play. It's not really something we can do against a team like York."
York's Ray Szeto piled up a game-high 23 kills to lead the Lions to victory while Ryerson's Lucas Coleman had a team-high 18 kills in the loss.
Ryerson falls to 13-5 on the season but remain tied with Waterloo, who also lost on Saturday, for second place in the OUA standings. York moves to 11-7 on the year.
Nipissing 3 @ Toronto 0
The University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's volleyball team fell 3-0 to the Nipissing Lakers on Saturday, January 31 at Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport.
Fourth-year right side hitter Kyle Fick led the Blues with a game-high 10 kills and five digs, while Zia Karim added seven kills on the night. Michael Denton notched 31 assists, with Alex Ferris adding 12 digs in the loss.
Nipissing was led by Cameron Branch's eight kills, while Warren Taylor had seven blocks in the win.
The Blues honoured graduating players Steven Khuu, Trevor Grant, Alex Park, Dave Merritt, Jake Dysselhof and Michael Denton in a pre-game ceremony.
Sunday, February 1
Queen's 1 @ Windsor 3
In an always entertaining match against the Queen's Gaels, the Lancer men's volleyball team came out on top 3-1 (25-22, 22-25, 25-22, 25-22) on Sunday afternoon at the St. Denis Centre.
With the win, the Lancers improve to 8-10 and continue to battle for the final playoff spot, while the Gaels move to 7-3 heading into the final weekend of the regular season.
Prior to the game, the Lancers honoured their graduating seniorsAdam Thompson, Greg Simone, Chad Hinchy, Andrew Chelladurai, and Paul Borger in a pre-game ceremony that was followed by a moving rendition of the Canadian national anthem by Thompson's sister.
As the score indicates, the two teams literally traded points for the entire four sets. The even battle between the two resulted in an entertaining match for the fans who battled the snowy weather to attend th game.
Windsor was led by Simone with 18 kills and 11 digs, while Gabriel Burlacu had 16 kills and 12 kills. Blase Wasseralso contributed 10 digs in the victory.
RMC 1 @ Western 3
Celebrating Justin Scapinello's final regular season home game as a Mustang in the best way possible, Western secured a four set win (25-27, 25-18, 25-14, 25-9) over the RMC Paladins on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Hall on Senior Day.
With the win, the Mustang record sits at 10-8 as they sit comfortably in sixth place within the OUA. RMC remains in 11th place, with a 0-18 record.
Joining the Mustangs as a transfer from Mohawk College, honouree Scapinello has recorded a total of 724 points throughout his three-year career with the Mustangs as of February 1. His time playing for Western comes to an end after holding a CCAA All-Canadian title while at Mohawk, and competing in two CIS national championships.
"The lineup we put out there didn't play quite as well as we had anticipated," says assistant coach Rob Atkinson about his team's performance in the first set. "They're great players, and they perform really well day in and day out in practice, but it just didn't happen today for a variety of reasons. Through nobody's individual fault, it just didn't work out as we had anticipated in the first set."
Despite taking an early lead, defensive errors from the Mustangs allowed the Paladins to overtake Western and lead by two points at 6-8.
The Mustangs rallied to match RMC's score at 9-9, but were unable to shake them off as the score remained tied at 12-12.
Pulling back into the lead, the Paladins capitalized on defensive and communication errors on the Western half of the court. Four points behind at 14-18, the Mustangs continued to struggle with blocks from RMC.
At 17-23, the Mustangs were forced into a time-out. Returning to the floor, Western quickly knocked out three points and pushed the Paladins into a timeout of their own at 20-23.
The interruption proved to be insufficient for RMC to refocus, as they called another timeout moments later at 23-24.
Taking the advantage at 25-26, after a kill from RMC's Adam Lupton, the 6'5 middle ended the game moments later with a block.
Setter Matt Hooker started off the second set on a high note for the Mustangs with a service ace that left the Paladins reeling. The Mustangs followed up with five points – interrupted by only one from RMC to bring the score to 6-1.
With the Paladin score doubled at 14-7, Western used powerful attacks and serving consistency to keep RMC at bay.
However, the Paladins had other ideas for the set. Shaving away at the deficit, they outscored the Mustangs and pushed them into a timeout at 18-15. Returning to the court, Western was ruthless in their attacks. A kill from second year Mustang Gavin Taylor would end the set 25-18.
The third set began with an exchange of points that only broke when the Mustangs began pulling out stronger attacks. At 9-5 Western finally began to establish the lead they wanted to feel secure in their position and shortly forced a Paladin timeout at 11-5.
Back on the floor, the Paladins focused their attacks into established areas of Mustang weakness to try and close the point gap. Unwilling to allow a comeback from RMC, Western extended their lead to eight points at 19-11.
Closing out the set at 25-14 for the Mustangs was an error from the Paladins.
Again taking an early 5-1 lead, Western was anxious to close out the fourth set quickly. Breaking through RMC's blocks and tight defense kept the Mustangs ahead.
At 17-6, the Paladin deficit seemed impossible to overcome.
Serving the last few points of the match was Chris Newcombe, who took over at 22-9. Three consecutive points later the Mustangs finished the set 25-9 following a kill from Scapinello.
Mustang Senior Day honouree Scapinello topped the scoresheet for both teams, recording 30.5 points. Taylor followed up with 15.5 points, and set a new career high for number of kills within one match. Also improving upon a career high was Winnipeg's Hooker, who established a new personal best for assists within one match. Adam Lupton and Blake McClelland shared the top spot on RMC's scoresheet, each contributing 10 points across the four sets.
"I think we had a slow start today," said Hooker. "We were just going through the motions, but I think we came out strong in the second set, and that's kinda been what we've been good at these past few weeks. I think that's why we went 2-0 this weekend. We hope to have a good weekend next weekend, York and Nipissing are both really big games. If we can close out the season 2-0, that would be great and we'll be looking good for playoffs."
