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The Rams lost their first game of the season Saturday night.
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Lions roar back to beat Rams

By Michael Grace-Dacosta

The Ryerson men’s volleyball team wasted a dominant performance from outside hitter Robert Wojcik, losing 3-2 (25-21, 25-17, 20-25, 21-25, 13-15) to the York Lions Saturday night at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.

Wojcik had a team-high 18 kills and seven service aces and outside hitter Alex Dawson had 10 kills in the Rams first loss of the season.

York’s Ray Szeto finished with a game-high 20 kills and Marko Dakic added 16 in the victory.

Wojcik scored eight of the team’s 15 kills in the first set to lead the Rams to a 25-21 victory.

The Rams (2-1) started the second set down 5-2, when Wojcik took over the game. Wojcik rattled off 14 straight serves collecting seven service aces during the stretch, including four straight, leading the Rams to a 25-17 victory in the frame.

“Unbelievable,” said Rams head coach Mirek Porosa of Wojcik’s service game. “I haven’t in my 27 years of coaching [seen that]. Unreal.”

“A little bit of luck,” said Wojcik on his service run. “ [The] ball was perfectly tossed every single time, perfect contact every time. Everything went really well for those few balls”

Things went down hill for the Rams after that.

The third was set tightly contested as the teams exchanged points until it was 18-18 when York pulled away and took the set 25-20.

York (3-1) started the fourth on a 5-1 run and never looked back winning the set 25-21 and tying the game 2-2.

“We just couldn’t hold concentration in the third set,” said Porosa. “We let them back into the game. In the fourth they ran on emotion and started smelling blood.”

After a masterful start to the game Wojcik sat for most of the fourth set.

“He ran out of gas a bit. We were down by six points, and it’s extremely hard to get back, so I just rested him for the fifth set,” said Porosa.

The fifth set was extremely close with neither side getting a meaningful advantage until, with the score tied 10-10, the Rams were called for a rotation violation, turning the momentum over as they would eventually win the set.

“I think the referee’s totally mistaken,” said Porosa. “We lost a point. At the time it was 10-9 and we got a point so it should be 11-10 for us and we’re running on momentum and adrenaline and that was taken away from us.”

Ray Szeto’s performance was a major factor in York’s comeback.

“He’s probably one of the best left sides I would have to say in the [Canadian Interuniversity Sport],” said Wojcik. “He had a huge impact. He kept the team up and had a great energy throughout the game.”

The Rams next play on Oct. 27 at the Mattamy Athletic Centre when they host the Nipissing Lakers.

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