CIS men's volleyball Saturday roundup: No. 10 Warriors sweep Blues in three tight sets

Source: Jill Clark, Toronto Sports Info

TORONTo - The Varsity Blues men’s volleyball team dropped a 3-0 (25-22, 26-24, 25-22) to the Waterloo Warriors on Saturday, January 26 at the Athletic Centre Sports Gym.

Mitchell Woodside (Clyde River, P.E.I), Jonathan Adomait (Dundas, Ont.) and Jake Dysselhof (Mississauga, Ont.) each led the Blues with eight kills, with Adomait adding a team-high nine digs. Team captain Michael Denton notched 33 assists in the loss.

Warriors right side hitter Zachary Doherty (Goderich, Ont.) led all players with 11 kills with Aleks Podma (Toronto) adding 10 in the victory.

The Blues battled hard with the No. 10 Warriors through all three sets. Trailing 13-16 at the first technical time out, Toronto went on a 7-0 run to take a 20-16 lead. The Warriors then showed their dominance, ending the set on a 9-2 run to take it 25-22.

U of T came out strong in the second set and held a 16-10 advantage at the technical time out. The Warriors battled back to even the score at 24-24 before taking it 26-24 for the 2-0 lead.

Waterloo carried that momentum over into the third, building a 19-14 lead. The Blues came back to bring it within two (22-24) but were unable to complete the comeback in the 22-25 loss.

The Varsity Blues (4-9) take on the Guelph Gryphons (3-10) tomorrow afternoon at the Athletic Centre Sports Gym. Game time is set for 1 p.m.

Source: Andrea Elliott, Ryerson Sports Info
 
TORONTO - The visiting Guelph Gryphons spoiled the Ryerson Rams men's volleyball team's return to Kerr Hall Gymnasium, sweeping the Rams 3-0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-19) on Saturday afternoon.

Guelph's key to victory was their service game, racking up 14 aces on the day. The Gryphons tallied six aces in the first set alone, establishing themselves and allowing them to stay aggressive from the service stripe.

Winston Rosser (Whitby, Ont.) reeled off four consecutive aces to give the Gryphons an 8-3 edge early in the first set and though the point differential wasn't too large to overcome, the service game seemed to get to the Rams mentally.

"We were there physically with the training and tactics we've prepared but mentally it seems like we've been collapsing the last few games. When we get on a bad run of points during sets we need the guys in leadership positions to step up...because it's a snow-ball effect and things can just get worse if that doesn't happen", said assistant coach Roger Marszalek following the game.

The Gryphons began to cool from the service line and committed six errors to help the Rams climb back into the first set. Aleksa Miladinovic (Belgrade, Serbia) used a reverse setter dump to knot the score at 19-19 but Guelph's attacking game used four kills to give the Gryphons a 25-23 set victory.

Ryerson looked to be on their way to a bounce back set, jumping out to a 9-4 advantage in the second but a 6-0 run by the Gryphons turned their deficit into a four point lead at 14-10.

Again the Rams were able to battle back in the set and were down just one at 24-23 but an ill-timed service error gave Guelph a 25-23 win to lead the match 2-0.

The Rams appeared deflated in the third set and the Gryphons came out hungry looking for the sweep.

"We knew they would be out to beat us because we embarrassed them in Guelph a couple months ago with a 3-0 win and that didn't leave a good impression on them. They went aggressive with their serve and took chances and it paid off", commented Marszalek.

Guelph led 16-13 at the third set technical timeout and increased the lead to as many as seven at 23-16 and the Rams were unable to mount a third set comeback as the Gryphons emerged with a 25-19 win to complete the sweep.

Ryerson's Robert Wojcik (Whitby, Ont.) had a game-high 13 kills while Marc Reardon (London, Ont.) hit 100 percent, tallying five kills on five attacks.

Rosser led the Gryphons with 11 kills and five service aces while Timothy Warnholtz (Guelph, Ont.) added seven kills and four service aces.

The loss drops the Rams to 5-8 on the year while Guelph improves to 4-10.

The Rams will need to push the loss aside quickly as they return to Kerr Hall on Sunday afternoon for a match against the No. 10 nationally ranked Waterloo Warriors which begins at 2:00 p.m.

Source: Joey Traa, Manitoba Sports Info

The #4 ranked Manitoba Bisons men’s volleyball team has had an up and down season, but they certainly look to be back on track after facing the Regina Cougars on January 26 at the Investors Group Athletic Centre.

In this Saturday matinee matchup, Manitoba had their way with Regina, dominating the game from beginning to end and winning in straight sets, (25-12, 25-20, 25-16). Leading the charge for the home team was co-captain Dane Pischke and 3rd year player Evan Jackson. Pischke finished the match with a game high 15 kills, and Jackson ended the game with nine of his own.

Bison head coach Garth Pischke was pleased with the way his team played, highlighting blocking and smart hitting as some of the keys to success. The Bisons have hit the court with high spirits in this second half of the season, something Pischke has certainly noticed as well,

“The break was really good for our team,” says Pischke. “We were really banged up in the first half, and the break gave us some time to heal up. We also had a good tournament out in Florida, and we’re just playing with a positive attitude that has helped us tremendously.”

The first set saw a Bisons team that was clicking on all areas of the court. Manitoba made very few errors, and their technically sound play caused Regina to fall away from their game plan, allowing the home team to take over the set. At no point was this set in doubt, as the Bisons dominated with a 25-12 first set win. 

Manitoba’s momentum fell slightly in the second, as they were unable to dominate the set like they did in the first. Part of this was because of the at times sloppy play from the Bisons, but it also was due to a strong outing from Cougar’s Andrew Nelson, who was leading the game in kills after the second set.

Regina fought hard in the second, getting the game as close as 21-19, but after a thunderous kill from Joseph Brooks momentum was back with the Bisons who never looked back, taking the set 25-20.

The third set started off as a back and forth battle, with both teams playing a lot cleaner, producing longer rallies and trading leads often. However after the ten-point mark, the Bisons pulled ahead and looked like the Manitoba team of the first set, eventually finishing off the Cougars 25-16

With the win, Manitoba improves to 11-6 on the year, where the Cougars drop to 2-15. These teams will play game two of the weekend series on Sunday, January 27 at 3 p.m. CT at the Investors Group Athletic Centre.

Source: Mike Markovski, York Sports Info

TORONTO - The York University Lions men's volleyball team earned a hard-fought victory over the Western Mustangs on Saturday night (Jan. 26), defeating them by a final score of 3-1 at the Tait McKenzie Centre.
 
The victory was a huge won over the perennially strong Mustangs, who were 10-3 coming into the match and had defeated the Lions in straight sets in their previous match-up earlier this season.
 
Third-year outside hitter Ray Szeto (Sutton, Ont.) continued his phenomenal play to lead the Lions to victory, scoring a game-high 25.5 points on 22 kills and 3.5 blocks and adding 11 digs. The Lions are now one game above .500 at 8-7 and comfortably hold down fifth place, six points ahead of sixth-place Ryerson.
 
The Mustangs came out strong in the first set, taking a 7-3 lead on the strength of some perfectly placed kills. However, the Lions would stand tough and answer back with four straight points to even the game at seven. Szeto then started to heat up as he made some impressive plays to give York a 14-11 lead and forcing the Mustangs to use a timeout.
 
The break did nothing to slow Szeto down, however, as he continued his stellar play and guided the Lions to a 25-19 opening set win.
 
The second set started with Western taking the opening point en route to an early 6-3 lead. However, the Lions would answer once again with a run of their own to tie the game up at 10 apiece. The set remained tight from then on as neither team was able to take a commanding lead. With the Mustangs leading 22-20, the Lions went on an impressive 5-1 run to take the set by a score of 25-23 and hold a commanding 2-0 lead heading into the third.
 
The third was a tightly contested battle to start as it was all tied up at five in the early going. However, the Mustangs' desperation to force a fourth set paid off as they jumped ahead 13-8. The Lions responded to ultimately tie it at 17-17, but from there the Mustangs went on an 8-3 run to take the third 25-20.
 
Like the third set, the fourth was a title battle throughout, with neither team going up by more than two points and a total of 17 lead changes from start to finish. The Mustangs appeared ready to force a fifth set with a 20-18 advantage late, but the Lions went on a 7-3 run from there to win the set 25-23 and take the match.
 
In addition to Szeto's tremendous play, the Lions received key contributions from Daniel Dearing (Toronto), who had 15.5 points on 13 kills and 2.5 blocks and added 11 digs, and Felipe Humana-Paredes (Toronto) who added 10 points on four kills, five blocks and one service ace.
 
Setter Paul Jakubiak (Mississauga, Ont.) was tremendous running the office, recording 43 assists and also adding three digs.
 
The Mustangs were led by standout outside hitter Garrett May (Toronto) who led his team with 22 points on 21 kills and one block.
 
The Lions will be on the road for their next two games starting with a match against the Queen's Gaels on Saturday, Feb. 2. Their next home game will be their last of the regular season on Sunday, Feb. 10 against the McMaster Marauders. The game is scheduled for 2pm.

Source: Fraser Caldwell, McMaster Sports Info

HAMILTON, Ont. - Jori Mantha turned in a master class in honour of his veteran teammates on Saturday.
 
The third-year outside hitter notched 24.5 points – and converted 22 of 35 hitting attempts – to lead the Marauders to a 3-1 victory over the Windsor Lancers and continue McMaster's perfect conference run of 15 consecutive victories in the OUA.
 
Set scores were 23-25, 25-14, 25-22 and 25-17 for the Marauders, who overcame an early setback to beat the Lancers at the Burridge Gym.
 
Marauder middle Tyson Alexander chipped in 14 points and eight kills on 10 attempts, and added four solo blocks while Kyle Williamson led all scorers with 19 points and 13 kills for the Lancers.
 
McMaster fielded an unusual lineup on Saturday, giving substantial playing time to the team's graduating veterans on the night dedicated to them. Ian Cooper assumed the role of setter, while middles Alexander and Michael Sjonneson each featured in all four sets.
 
That unfamiliarity likely contributed to the Marauders' flat start to the match, as the hosts fell behind the Lancers early in the opening set. McMaster struggled to string its passes together in the first, but hung with Windsor to enter the technical timeout only two points off the pace at 16-14.
 
It was a set full of errors and miscues for the Marauders, and the Lancers deservingly took it when Kevin Stevens' serve found the tape on set point for 25-23.
 
McMaster Coach Dave Preston kept the faith with his personnel heading into the second, and the players rewarded him with an invigorated effort.
 
Mantha had begun to show off his attacking skills as he operated on the right side, and when fellow outside Stevens smartly tipped past the block and found the floor, the Marauders took a seven-point lead into the second set technical at 16-9.
 
The hosts' game steadied in all facets, and with the Marauders finding their range at both the net and the service line, it came as no surprise when they ran away with the set. The rampant Mantha provided the kill on set point, drilling a high ball off Windsor's double block and wide for 25-14.
 
The Lancers bounced back strongly from their second set thrashing, and led 14-12 after meeting Stevens with a double block. That narrow lead held into the technical timeout, after Windsor dug out well for a kill from the right.
 
The teams remained inseparable as the third set drew to a close, but it was McMaster that would find the decisive shot. Mantha polished off an extended rally from the right for 25-22 and a 2-1 lead overall.
 
Windsor kept things close to begin the fourth, but the home side found separation with Stephen Maar at the service line. The rookie outside notched consecutive aces to give the Marauders a 10-9 lead, and the hosts would not look back from there.
 
Maar featured yet again on the final point of the match, making the most of a tough position in the pipe and rolling an attack that found the back line for 25-17.

Source: Lindsay Franco, Calgary Sports Info

CALGARY – The Dinos swept the WolfPack for the second night in a row at Jack Simpson Gymnasium in a 3-0 (25-16, 25-22, 25-21) win on January 26.

Trading points right off the bat, the Dinos and the WolfPack seemed to be evenly matched. The first significant lead in the first didn’t come until the Dinos began to pull away at 12-8 with an ace from Jeremy Guenther. The lead eventually built up to 16-9 at the technical.

Sean Martin made his presence felt early on with kills from the right side and middle Jovan Jankovic put up a huge block at the net that Thompson Rivers had a tough time getting around. The Dinos’ big lead held up until the end of the set where they would win it 25-16.

The beginning of the set once again proved to be a race to 16. Tied at 10 all, Calgary finally started to pull away for a 16-13 lead heading into the technical. Calvin Siebert came off the bench after the timeout to serve at the line for the Dinos and he would do well, taking Calgary to 19 with Thompson Rivers trailing by four.

A timeout from the WolfPack obviously sparked something in them, as the visitors fought their way back from the deficit to tie it up, and then go ahead by one at 21-20 with consecutive aces from Brad Gunter. Trading points once again, Trent Monagle was subbed in to serve for the Dinos and it worked as the WolfPack had a hitting error followed by a net call to allow the Dinos to go up 2-0 with a 25-22 win.

In the third set, Martin continually proved his worth on the young Dinos squad, adding kill after kill to keep the WolfPack at bay. It would be a tough fought last set, as Calgary held a small one point lead at the technical timeout.

After the break, the Dinos came alive, pulling away and gaining a six point lead at 22-16 thanks to a kill from Martin. He would eventually get the match point on an ace to solidify the win at 25-22.

Three Dinos hit double digits on the night, with Martin leading the way with a team-high 15 points on 12 kills and three blocks. Guenther and Greg Mann both added another ten points for the Dinos. Setter Jackson Maris recorded 28 assists on the night.

Gunter led all players with 14 kills and a total of 18 points. Philip Orazi added another seven for the visiting WolfPack.

Both teams now hold a 6-12 record and share ninth place in the Canada West standings. The Dinos have a tough match-up next weekend when they head to Langley, B.C. to take on the Trinity Western Spartans Feb 1-2. Thompson Rivers will head home to host the Mount Royal Cougars on Feb. 2-3.

Source: Paul Cartledge, Alberta Sports Info

EDMONTON - With a dominant straight-sets win (25-16, 25-17, 25-15) over the University of Winnipeg Wesmen Saturday night at the Saville Community Sports Centre, the No.1 University of Alberta Golden clinch top spot in the conference standings.

The victory also gives Alberta a first-round "bye" in the playoffs as well as hosting duties for the Canada West Final Four tournament, February 22-23.

The Wesmen drop to 8-10 on the season, currently holding onto the seventh and final playoff spot, yet Mount Royal, Calgary, and Thompson Rivers are all within striking distance with two weekends left to go in the regular season.

Fourth-year left side Jay Olmstead led the top-ranked Alberta offence with nine kills and two aces, sophomore left side Ryley Barnes chipping in seven and one ace while fourth-year middle Matt McCreary and senior right side Mitch Irvine added a half-dozen kills each. Fourth-year setter Jarron Mueller had a game-high 24 assists.

Brisbane, Australia native Thomas Douglas-Powell had a team-high six kills for the visitors, Canada West assist leader Joshua McKay adding 19 to his season total of 661.

The team effort on the scoreboard was just as much defence for Alberta as it was offence, the Golden Bears combining for 11 block assists in the opening set to go along with a 33.3% attack percentage, and Alberta neither slipped below 30% in the second or third sets, nor had less than 3.5 total blocks.

The Golden Bears finished with 22 total block assists on the evening while Red Deer, Alta. native Irvine and senior middle Tristan Aubry earned the only two solo blocks by the home team.

Winnipeg, the conference's third-ranked offence and defence, finished with 25 kills and a 5.7% attack percentage after three sets but had three players with three block assists and a team total of 7.5.

The Bears will head to Manitoba to face the Bisons in the second-last weekend of the regular season while the Wesmen return home to continue their playoff hunt against the last-place UBC Okanagan Heat.

Notes: The 18-0 record ties the team's previous best for regular-season finish, hitting the mark the first time back in 2008-09 where Alberta also went undefeated in the post-season to win their sixth national championship...Four games remain in Alberta's 2012-13 regular season.

Source: Nicole Betker, Saskatchewan Sports Info

SASKATOON - Thanks to a 3-0 (29-27, 25-13, 25-22) win over the visiting No. 6 ranked Brandon University Bobcats, the No. 8 ranked University of Saskatchewan Huskies secured a date in the Canada West men’s volleyball postseason.

With the win, the Huskies move to 12-6 on the season. The Huskies sweep over the Bobcats, a night earlier Saskatchewan won 3-1 (25-19, 25-17, 22-25, 25-23), combined with a Mount Royal Cougars loss to the Trinity Western Spartans will set up the first postseason appearance by the Huskie since 2006-07.

Brandon drops to 10-8 and is still in the hunt for one of the remaining spots in the playoffs.

Matching each other point-for-point in the first set, Brandon took a lead at 24-21 after a Dan Boutwell service ace. The Huskies took a timeout and regrouped scoring the next three points to tie the game. The teams sat at match point three times, before Huskie Jordan Nowakowski came off the bench with a strong serve and kill for the 29-27 win.

Despite small leads early in the second and third sets, Brandon could never get control of the games. Saskatchewan took the sets 25-13 and 25-22.

Sam Tuivai led the Bobcats with 11 kills, while Roy Ching added another 10. Scott Neufeld finished the game with a match-high 12 digs.

Third-year outside hitter Paul Thomson led the Huskies with 15 kills and Bryan Fraser added another 12. Chris Gilbert and Jeff Grant each had nine kills on the night.

The Huskies face provincial rival the Regina Cougars in a home-and-home series next week, while Brandon returns home to host the UBC Thunderbirds.

Source: Lee Dorner, UBC Sports Info

VANCOUVER – After needing some late comebacks to pull themselves out of the fire on Friday, the UBC Thunderbirds looked much more in control Saturday against the UBC Okanagan Heat, downing them again in straight sets (25-19, 25-20, 25-21) at War Memorial Gym.

The ‘Birds found themselves behind late in the final two sets against the Heat in game one of their series, but after erasing a 10-9 Heat lead in the first set, UBC was in front the rest of the night on Saturday.

The action was still close in all three sets, as the Heat played a tight defensive game and didn’t let any balls find the floor easily, but UBC got a great bounce back performance from its middles, and Jarrid Ireland had another great night on the outside to push the ‘Birds to victory.

“I thought we came out with more conviction today, which is good to see. Overall it was a balanced effort and we played with a bit of a chip on our shoulder,” said UBC head coach Richard Schick. “That’s not always the identity of this group but today we played with a chip and we needed to because they really scrapped it out against us but we stuck with it.”

Ireland led all players with 11 kills on .476 hitting, and his defence is continuing to trend upward as well, as he led the team with nine digs and was in on three blocks.

“He provides us that go-to guy,” Schick said of his second-year outside hitter. “There were quite a few two-man blocks he faced today on the right and left side, and he worked the block to his advantage and found holes in the defence.”

Setter Milan Nikic distributed the ball evenly across his three main targets of Ireland, Ben Chow and Quentin Schmidt, earning him 29 aces. Schmidt added eight kills and Chow had seven. UBC hit .312 as a team.

After struggling in the battle at the net last night, UBC’s middles asserted themselves on both sides of the ball Saturday. Chris Howe tallied five blocks, three of them solo efforts, and added six kills on .455 hitting. Alex Russell had three blocks and six kills of his own on only nine attacks, and he finished off both the second and third sets with a kill.

“I thought last night we got dominated in the middle, but today we were so much more efficient out of the middle, which is what we’ve been all year,” Schick said. “We can’t accept things as they were yesterday and we adjusted well tonight.”

The ‘Birds did a nice job on UBCO’s Riley McFarland again, holding him to six kills on .032 hitting after he was held to a negative hitting percentage Friday.

Bret Uniat and Greg Niemantsverdriet tied for the team lead with seven kills. Jeremy Fostvelt had a game-high 12 digs for the Heat.

The Heat fall to 2-16 with the loss. They play in Winnipeg next week.

UBC improves to 12-6 to keep pace near the top of the table in Canada West. They are only one game back of second-place Trinity Western, with four games remaining in the regular season.

Next week they take on Brandon in Manitoba, before wrapping up the regular season at home against Mount Royal on February 8 and 9.