TORONTO- Mattieu Poulin garnered a game-high 17 kills to lead the Western Mustangs to a 3-0 (25-14, 25-23, 25-19) victory over the Ryerson Rams men's volleyball team on Saturday afternoon at Kerr Hall Gym. The Mustangs (5-0) are undefeated to start the year, and hold down top spot in the OUA conference early in the season.
Luka Milosevic led the way with eight kills for the Rams, who drop to 2-3 early on in the season.
"The second set was close and I really have to praise our players for that," said Head Coach Mirek Porosa, who acknowledged the Mustangs as an experienced team with strong offensive capabilities that the Rams were unable to stop in the key moments of the match.
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Poulin tallied a couple of kills to start the game, and the Mustangs would go up by four after a Sean McKay put-back, leading the Rams to take their first timeout of the set. Milosevic (Toronto) would respond with a couple of points to cut into the lead, and a block by Roman Kabanov pulled Ryerson within one.
But the Mustangs took six of the next eight points, and an Andre Begin kill gave them a 16-11 advantage at the technical timeout. Poulin and Begin combined for a couple more kill to take full control of the set, and Phil James tallied a block and thundering kill at the middle of the net as Western easily took the first set by 11.
The teams traded points early in the second, and another slam in the middle by James and ace by Begin gave Western a 10-7 lead. The Mustangs continued to cruise, holding a five-point spread by the technical timeout.
Alex Dawson (Scarborough, Ont.) attempted to cut down the lead with a monster kill, and his serve stymied the Mustangs on the next play. Fifth-year Kabanov (Toronto) then had a big block to pull Ryerson within a couple. After a Kyle Konietzny (Toronto) block, Robert Earl served an ace to tie the game at 18-18. Unfortunately the Ottawa native committed an error on his next serve, allowing Western to retain their lead.
The squads went point-for-point into the latter part of the set, with Western continuing to hold a slim lead. A long rally ended with Earl (Ottawa) getting a touch on the ball that the Mustangs couldn't handle notching the contest at 22-22. However, Poulin came right back with two straight kills, leaving the Rams facing two set points. They staved off the first point, but McKay found the court on the next play to give Western a commanding two-set lead.
Looking to clinch the win in straight sets, the Mustangs once got the upper hand in the third. A block my Marc Reardon (London, Ont.) kept Ryerson within one, but a big block by Mathew Waite surged Western on another mini-streak, and for the third straight set, the Mustangs held a 16-11 advantage at the technical timeout.
The Rams were able to make up some ground, coming within three off two straight kills by George Sakvarelidze (Toronto), but the Western offense continued to roll and would notch their fifth-straight win to begin the season.
The Rams will conclude their weekend Sunday afternoon at Kerr Hall Gym, where they will host the Windsor Lancers at 2:00 p.m. The game can be seen online on the Live Video page at www.ryersonrams.ca.
