by Patty Monteiro
York University snapped Ryerson’s eight-game winning streak in Sunday’s gold medal game of the Ryerson Leasebank Invitational Tournament.
York defeated Ryerson in three straight sets (25-22, 25-22, 25-17).
“(They are) our big rivals, (we) wanted to go out and kill them,” said setter Greg Marszalek.
The loss to last year’s provincial champions was still a shock to the Rams, who beat them in three sets during round-robin play.
“We played well and kicked the shit out of York in the first game,” said Ryerson’s coach Mirek Porosa, “but we lost, that’s the message.”
Porosa was reluctant to name excuses for his team’s performance.
“The elements were all there, just never at the same time,” said middle Mal Sampa. “We had 14 guys with experience, we should have stepped up,” he added.
Rookies Maciej Hryniewicki and Oleh Kovalchuk sat out with minor injuries, while star left-side Ryan Vandenburg, a fourth-year urban planning student, was on a school trip to New York City.
“(The) rookies who are here all have experience, we all have experience, any of us can step up,” Sampa said. “Saying a guy isn’t here is not an excuse,” he added.
The Rams were able to keep the score close early on, but couldn’t match York’s intensity late in each set.
“We just didn’t have that fire and aggressiveness,” said Rams veteran Roger Marszalek.
Both Marszalek brothers joined veteran Anton Hauser as tournament all-stars, leading Ryerson to an undefeated record in pool play.
“I think we played well against Ryerson,” said Queen’s University head coach Brenda Willis. “We want to keep playing at that level.”
But it wasn’t all fun and games for everyone this weekend.
During a Saturday game between Queen’s and the University of Guelph, Bayu Sutarjono, a fourth-year science student at the University of Toronto, was removed from the stands for what security said was “heckling above and beyond appropriate means.”
“He got kicked out for the most polite cheering I have ever heard,” said Queen’s player Mohamed Slaibeh, whom Sutarjono had come to support.
Sutarjono was first approached by event staff who told him his heckling was breaking OVA (Ontario Volleyball Association) rules. When Sutarjono refused to leave, security approached him and said he was breaking Ryerson rules.
“I made sure I did not use any swears or say, ‘you suck,’ it was pretty much nothing negative. Apparently heckling is not part of the game,” Sutarjono said.
Lawrence Robinson, manager of Ryerson safety and security, said security was involved when Sutarjono refused to leave.
Windsor’s coach Huub Kammere witnessed the incident and agreed that the student had done nothing wrong.
“It’s a little bit harsh for the guy,” Kammere said. “I think they went too far.”
“We’ve had games here where people have said things that would make a 9-year-old boy cry,” said Slaibeh.
Volleyball supervisor Akash Kadam was told by a Ryerson official to remove Sutarjono because “he was being obnoxious.”
“I tried to defend myself and say that I wasn’t breaking Ryerson rules. No one originally warned me,” Sutarjono said.
Sutarjono was ejected in the second set and wasn’t refunded his $7 admission fee. Security also issued him a ticket that bans him from Ryerson property indefinitely.
Referee Cecil Clark declined comment on the action, as did game officials present. Calls to Interuniversity Sport Director Terry Haggerty and Sports and Recreation Program Director Dave Dubois were not returned.
Next up for the Rams is the Husky Energy Can-Am Men’s Volleyball Challenge in Edmonton.
Ryerson, the University of Alberta, the University of British Columbia and Trinity Western University will play the last four champions of the United States’ National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) on Oct. 14-16.
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