CIS men's volleyball Sunday roundup: Manitoba clinches playoff spot with weekend sweep against Regina

Source: Toronto Sports Info

TORONTO - The Varsity Blues men’s volleyball team picked up their fifth win on the season with a 3-2 (25-21, 18-25, 25-23, 22-25, 15-10) victory over the Guelph Gryphons on Sunday, January 27 at the Athletic Centre Sports Gym.
 
 Fifth-year right Mitchell Woodside (Clyde River, Ont.) delivered for Toronto with a game-high 22 kills. The Gryphons received 16 kills from Winston Rosser (Whitby, Ont.) as well as 14 from Timothy Warnholtz (Guelph, Ont.).
 
After alternating the first ten points to start the deciding set, the Blues built a three-point lead to go up 8-5. Toronto maintained that margin the rest of the way, building a five-point gap off a quick kill by Trevor Grant (Port Perry, Ont.). The second-year middle followed that up with a block on the next point and the Blues eventually took the set 15-10.
 
Both teams struggled to find a rhythm early in the match, with Toronto jumping out to a 6-2 lead. After each side started connecting with their kills, the Blues built their advantage up to 18-10. Guelph responded with an 8-3 run to close the score to 21-18, however Toronto ripped of four of the next seven points to take the first set 25-21.
 
 The second set saw the score tied three times in the early going before five striaght points by the Gryphons put them up 16-12. Guelph would add to that puling ahead 21-16, before closing out the set 25-18.
 
In the third, the close play continued with the team evenly exchanging the first ten points. The Blues would go on a five-point rally before the Gryphons responded with 7-2 run of their own to pull even at 12-12. Neither team would build a sustainble gap until the Blues went up 23-20 late in the set, and held on for a 25-23 win.
 
 Guelph got off to a quick start in the fourth set, building leads of 6-1 and 10-4 with five straight points off Warnholtz's serve. The Blues battled back cutting the lead to three before Guelph would rally again widening the gap to 23-18. Toronto once again made it close, pulling to within one, before the Gryphons finished the set off 25-22.
 
 The Varsity Blues (5-9) travel to Windsor to take on the Lancers (3-11) on Friday, February 1 in an 8 p.m. tilt.

Source: Andrea Elliott, Ryerson Sports Info
 
TORONTO - The Ryerson Rams men's volleyball team lost their fifth straight game on Sunday afternoon, dropping 3-0 (19-25, 23-25, 16-25) to the No. 10 nationally ranked Waterloo Warriors.

Fiodar Kazhamiaka (Waterloo, Ont.) had a game-high 13 kills and hit 55 percent to lead the Warriors to victory.

The two teams were locked in a tight first set, exchanging points until the score read 13-13. Three straight points from the Warriors, including a kill and service ace from Tyler Motherwell (Toronto), gave the visitors a 16-13 edge at the technical timeout.

The Rams were able to close the gap when Robert Wojcik (Whitby, Ont.) went over top of a triple block to find the floor and cut the deficit to just one, trailing 18-17, but Waterloo responded with another three point run to lead by four at 21-17 and Ryerson could not recover. The Warriors took the first set 25-19 to lead 1-0.

Early in the second Waterloo opened up a four point cushion at 8-4 and the spread widened to five at 15-10 which forced the Rams into a timeout. Ryerson came out to take the next three points but still trailed 16-13 at the technical timeout.

The three point gap remained as Waterloo held a 22-19 lead but back to back kills from Alex Dawson (Scarborough, Ont.) brought Ryerson within one at 22-21. The Warriors remained composed and Jordan Dyck (St. Catharines, Ont.) finished the set with a kill to give Waterloo a 25-23 win and a 2-0 overall lead.

Ryerson looked ready to bounce back in the third and extend the match, opening the set with a 4-1 lead but a pair of service errors and a pair of attacking errors let the Warriors climb back into the set and ultimately give the visitors an 8-7 lead. Waterloo extended their lead with a 4-0 run to open up an 18-11 advantage and the Warriors cruised the rest of the way, securing a 25-16 victory to complete the three set sweep.

Zachary Doherty (Goderich, Ont.) added eight kills in the victory while Motherwell finished with four kills and a game-high five solo blocks for Waterloo.

Robert Wojcik finished with a team-high 12 kills for the Rams while Alex Dawson added ten. Luka Milosevic (Toronto) had a strong game, notching seven kills and a team-high four solo blocks.

Setter Aleksa Miladinovic (Belgrade, Serbia) played well, distributing the ball evenly and assisting on 35 of Ryerson's 37 kills.

"Aleksa was consistent today. The guys were passing much better today than they were yesterday and that made it easier for the setter to distribute and play his game. Aleksa is one of the top setters in the league and he's really improved his location of the ball and finding the right guys at the right time and he did that really well today", commented assistant coach Roger Marszalek after the game.

The loss drops Ryerson's record to 5-9 and they now sit tied with Toronto for sixth place in the OUA standings. Waterloo improves to 13-2 on the year and are comfortably in second place.

Today's contest was the last for coach Marszalek with the Ryerson Rams and he talked about the parody of today's contest being held at Kerr Hall Gymnasium, a place where he played five seasons in Ryerson blue.

"It's interesting how it worked out that we played here in Kerr Hall this weekend which is where it all started for me and now it's ending in the same place. This has been a huge part of my life, being a Ryerson Ram as a player and a coach. I'm going to continue to follow and support the program but it was unfortunate we couldn't get a win today to end on a good note but I'm confident the guys will work together and make it to the playoffs where anything can happen."

The Rams return to action next weekend when they travel to London to take on the Western Mustangs on Friday, February 1 at 8:00 p.m.

Source: Sara Shyiak, Manitoba Sports Info

WINNIPEG - The #4 Manitoba Bisons men’s volleyball team went into the second match of this series against the Regina Cougars looking for a weekend sweep and they got it with a 3-0 win (25-17, 25-16, 25-18) in an afternoon game at Investors Group Athletic Centre.

The win clinches a playoff spot for Manitoba. Fantastic teamwork won the weekend for the Bisons as they worked hard to set up solid kills and to minimize errors.

Manitoba is now in a three-way tie for third in the Canada West conference with UBC and Saskatchewan. All three teams have a 12-6 record.  Regina is tied with for 11th UBC Okanagan with 2-16 for both teams.

“We’ve been blocking really well the past six matches,” said head coach Garth Pischke.

“Their [the Bisons] servicing I thought was really good this weekend.”

Manitoba easily took the third set by pulling in front after a 3-3 tie and widening their lead to as many as nine points for a 25-18 win. Regina started to close the game late in the set but it wasn’t enough.  

The Bisons fell behind in the beginning of the second set but were never more than two points apart from the Cougars. They tied it up four times until a strong kill by middle player Joseph Brooks put the score at 9-8. From there, the momentum of the game swung in Manitoba’s direction and they took the set 25-16. 

In the first and second sets Regina started as a possible contender for the win until halfway through their game did not match Manitoba and they fell off the pace. There were ties three times in the beginning of the first set, and four times in the beginning of the second. In both sets Regina started strongly but Manitoba rallied and showed why they’re the number four team in the country with key kills and blocks to end each set.

Co-captain Dane Pischke led his team 13 kills and middle player Joseph Brooks finished with 10.

Cougars ride side player Andrew Nelson carried his team with the game-high of 14 kills.

Manitoba came out on top in their last weekend series against the Cougars in January 2012. They took the weekend at Regina with a 3-1 (29-31, 27-25, 25-15, 25-21) win and a 3-0 (25-18, 25-23, 25-19) win.

Manitoba has four conference games left to play in the regular season.  The Bisons will host the #1 team Alberta (18-0) next weekend for their final weekend series at home before playoffs.

Coach Pischke wants to see the Bisons work hard against Alberta.

“I want to see intensity, I want to see all-out competitiveness. I mean Alberta is undefeated and they’re undefeated for a reason.”

Regina will face the Huskies next at University of Saskatchewan Thursday, January 31 at 8 p.m. M.S.T.  On February 1 and 2, Manitoba will play Alberta at Investors Group Athletic Centre with both matches starting at 8 pm C.T.