CIS men's volleyball Saturday roundup

Source: Jill Clark, Toronto Sports Information Coordinator

TORONTO - The University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's volleyball team dropped a 3-1 (17-25, 23-25, 25-19, 20-25) decision to the Windsor Lancers on Saturday, January 25 at the Athletic Centre Sports Gym.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IndRW4BckE

With the loss, the Blues drop to 4-11 and remain in ninth place, while the Lancers improve to 6-9 and sit seventh in the OUA standings.

Fourth-year veteran Jake Dysselhof (Mississauga, Ont.) notched a team-high 12 kills and 11 digs on the day. Fifth-year middle Jay Tremonti (Dryden, Ont.) added nine kills, five blocks and two aces, while rookie William Colucci had eight kills, dix digs and one ace.

Michael Denton recorded 18 assists and 10 digs, while Aleksa Miladinovic had 24 assists and seven digs in the loss.

The two teams exchanged points in the early goings of the first set with the Lancers holding a narrow 16-12 lead at the technical time out.  The Blues attempted to rally, but Windsor ended the first on a 9-5 streak and took the set with a serving ace, 25-17.

The Lancers got out to an early 6-2 lead, but back-to-back kills from Jake Dysselhof evened the score at 8-8. The two teams traded points from there and Windsor took a narrow 16-15 lead at the break. The set remained close, with neither team building more than a two-point lead, and despite some solid effort from the Blues, Windsor took it 25-23.

The third proved to be an epic back-and-forth battle, until an Aleksa Miladinovic ace gave Toronto a 10-8 lead. Miladinovic came up with a big block and Toronto held a 16-12 lead at the technical time out. Windsor attempted to rally, but the Blues secured the set, 25-19, with a big kill from Matt Vares.

Toronto got out to a 5-0 lead thanks to some solid play from Jay Tremonti and took a 10-5 advantage after a big Vares kill. Windsor battled back to bring the game within three as Toronto led 16-13 at the time out. The Lancers continued to rally and took the lead, 19-18, en route a 25-20 fourth-set win.

Greg Simone led all players with 14 kills, three aces and two blocks for the Lancers, with Scott Hickman adding 10 kills in the win.

The Varsity Blues return to action tomorrow as they host the Western Mustangs at the Athletic Centre Sports Gym. Game time is set for 12 p.m.

Source: Daire McCloy, Western Sports Info

TORONTO, Ont. – After last weekend's success against RMC and Queen's, the Western Mustang's men's volleyball team made their way to Toronto on Saturday to take on Ryerson and defeated in three sets with  scores of 25-21, 25-17, 25- 23.
 
With the win the Mustangs move to 12-3 on the season, good for third place in the OUA standings and only one game behind the second-place Waterloo Warriors. Ryerson falls to 9-6 on the year and occupy fifth in the OUA.
 
The Mustangs commanded the court the entire match with a 24.4% kill percentage compared to Ryerson's 7.6%. Western's dominated on offense with a total of 39 kills and their defense was also strong, as they added 23 digs in the match.
 
The first set saw Western come out strong, taking the lead at the onset before the two teams found themselves equalized at 19 points. Despite letting the Rams back in, the Mustangs were able to trudge on and take the set 25-21.
 
In the second set, the Mustangs gained early control once again and were able to hold the Rams at bay despite substituting new players in after a technical time-out. The set ended at 25-17 in Western's favour, as the Rams found themselves unable to climb back into the game.
 
Western maintained their dominance in the third set to close out the match, despite registering their lowest kill percentage of the match at 20.7%. In total, the Mustangs registered 12 digs on defense in the set while finding themselves on the right side of five attack errors by Ryerson.
 
Western's offense was led by Phil James, who put up 11 kills in the commanding victory. Notable contributions also came from Garrett May and Justin Scapinello, who also added nine kills and seven kills, respectively. The strong Mustangs defense was headed by Matt Silver with eight digs and James who lead the team with five blocks.
 
On Ryerson's end, Stefan Ristic made the largest defensive impact on the afternoon for the Rams, putting up seven digs on the day. Robert Wojcik had the most kills of the afternoon for Ryerson with a total of six.
 
The purple and white remain in Toronto to take on the University of Toronto's varsity blues on Sunday, January 26 at 12:00 p.m.

Source: Shawn MacDonald, Queen's Sports Info

NORTH BAY, Ont. - The Gaels suffered through some early inefficiency en route 3-0 loss at Nipissing Saturday evening, 25-17, 25-23, and 28-26.

The Gaels attack made nine errors to match their nine kills in the first set, which had the widest spread of the match. Queen's competed in the following sets thanks in part to a game-high 18 kill performance put on by Mike Tomlinson (Stratford, Ont.). Jacob Glantz (St. Catherines, Ont.) played a solid defensive game, recording a team-high 11 digs for the Gaels.

Frankie Edgecombe had a standout 14 kill game for the Lakers, while Dan Pearson led Nipissing defensively a game-high 12 digs.

Queen's plays again Sunday at York, with the match set for 4pm.

Source: Guelph Sports Info

Guelph, Ont. – The Guelph Gryphon's men's volleyball team were defeated by the visiting Waterloo Warriors 3-0 on Saturday afternoon. Set scores were 25-23, 25-20, and 25- 13. The loss drops the Gryphon's record to 5-10 on the season, while the Warriors improve to 13-3.

Luke Woud (Zephyr, Ont.) led the Gryphon’s in scoring with 10 points (6 kills, 2 aces, 2 blocks). Marc Wilson (Stratford, Ont.) added another seven points for the Gryphon’s (6 kills, 1 ace).

James Evans led the Waterloo Warriors in offense with 14 points (13 kills, 1 block).

Waterloo jumped to an early 4-1 lead in the opening set. Guelph battled to tie the set up at four, but the Warriors would regain their lead on the very next point. After being tied once again at six, Patrick Strzalkowski (St. Catharine’s, Ont.) had a huge spike to give Guelph the 7-6 lead, their first of the game. The score remained close for the duration of the opening set. With things all tied up at 15, Guelph’s Luke Woud hit a monstrous spike to give Guelph the lead by one. Unfortunately Waterloo took the next four points, giving them the lead 19-16. Things remained tight between the Gryphon’s and the CIS ranked #9 Waterloo Warriors, but the Warriors would eventually take the set 25-23.

The second set started much like the first, with Waterloo up 4-1 early. Kyle Richards (London, Ont.) and Luke Woud looked to give the Gryphon’s some much needed momentum as the two hooked up on a beautiful volley-spike combo finished off by Woud, much to the delight of the home crowd. However Waterloo seemed to be in control of the game early on. Fans were treated to some entertaining rallies, as the two teams displayed their skill with quick and exciting exchanges, Guelph started to rally back, stringing a few consecutive points together to cut Waterloo’s lead to 14-12. Guelph’s Eric Wagner (Kitchener, Ont.) made some remarkable digs for the Gryphon’s to help trim their deficit. However, Waterloo showcased their talent, extending their lead to 20-16, and eventually taking the set 25-20.

The second set seemed to knock the wind out of the Gryphon’s sail, as they allowed Waterloo to take another early lead, this time 5-1. A few serving errors hurt the Gryphon’s chances of a come back, as Waterloo extended their lead to 11-4. The Warriors had a really strong attack game, making it extremely difficult for Guelph to gain momentum and mount a rally. Waterloo would take a ten point lead, 16-6. The lead got extended to 20-9, and the Warriors would eventually take the set 25-13, winning the match 3-0.

The Gryphon’s play again tomorrow afternoon as they travel to Hamilton to take on the #1 McMaster Marauders at 3 pm.

Source: Lindsay Franco, Calgary Multimedia & Communications Coordinator

CALGARY – The No. 10 University of Calgary Dinos were unable to get revenge on the No. 8 Saskatchewan Huskies after last night’s loss as they fell 3-1 (24-26, 26-24, 21-25, 16-25) on Jan. 25 at Jack Simpson Gym.

Calgary’s two losses and Saskatchewan’s two wins this weekend give both teams a 9-9 record.

Dino Connor Frehlich was Calgary’s leading scorer, recording 16 kills. Veteran Andrew Visser followed that up with 15 kills of his own. Greg Mann had a game-high 17 digs for Calgary.

For the Huskies, Bryan Fraser scored a game-high 21 kills from the left-side along with seven digs. Paul Thomson added 10 more kills for Saskatchewan. Setter Zak Rempel recorded 32 assists.

In the same fashion at the following night, the Dinos and the Huskies battled it out from the get-go. It was Saskatchewan taking a 16-12 at the technical and extending it to 18-12 before Calgary could get back on the board.

It wasn’t until the final points that the Dinos began to close the gap. Despite not being able to tie the score it, it took the Huskies extra points to win the first set 26-24.

In the second, it was the Dinos turn to hold down a lead. With their defence clicking in the back row as well as at the net, they took an early 8-3 lead. The Huskies began to flirt with the lead as they started to shut down Mann at the net, but were unable to overtake it. At the technical, the Dinos were up 16-13.

All throughout the second half of the set, both teams went point for point with Calgary still holding down a slight lead. It was finally at 24 that Saskatchewan tied it but a dump from Maris followed by a kill from Frehlich closed out the set for the Dinos as they tied it at one.

In another very close set, both teams seemed to be picking up everyone on defence making for some long and entertaining rallies. The Huskies led at the technical 16-14 and took their first three-point lead of the game at 20-17 with an overpass from the Dinos, forcing them to call a timeout.

Calgary was unable to overcome the Huskies lead and went on to take the third 25-21 with McLean at the line. Fraser already had 17 kills accumulated.

In the fourth, the Dinos looked like they had run out of steam, allowing the Huskies to take a 12-3. With barely any momentum, Calgary let the nine-point lead hold up until the technical. A 4-0 run later in the set by Calgary forced Saskatchewan to call a timeout, but they easily took the final set 25-16 to win the match 3-1.

Calgary will take on the Winnipeg Wesmen on the road next weekend while the Huskies will host the UBC Thunderbirds in the regular season’s second last weekend of play.