By Nashra Syed
The Rams men’s volleyball team won its second straight game against the Trent University Excalibur on March 4 at the Mattamy Athletic Centre (MAC).
The Rams started off hot, with setter Saad Shaikh playing the first serve of the game, accompanied by a block made by first-year Kai Higuchi. He also served the fourth point for the Rams with an ace.
“I’m really glad the coach gave me the opportunity, every time I play I try to earn my spot,” said Higuchi. “It’s really exciting that we’re starting to get results especially because we’re kind of a young team, I think it bodes well for the future.”
Winning consecutive points, the first time out was taken by Trent with a score of 7-3 Rams. A block made by third-year Omari Young put the Rams at a 10-4 advantage before a kill by Shaikh won them the next point.
A yellow card was issued to Rams libero Lhexen Rabit for an unknown reason. But the penalty wasn’t a setback for the Rams, as first-year Jacob Walker gained an ace, earning a 14-5 lead to the Rams.
Another block made by Higuchi and Young put the Rams up 16-5 before the first technical timeout of the game was taken.
A point earned by the Excalibur didn’t last for long after the Rams took back the point with a kill.
Multiple unsuccessful kill attempts made by the Excalibur allowed the Rams to cruise to a 25-13 win at the end of the first set.
“I see a lot of joy on our team, especially with the bench and the guys on the court so I think there’s a camaraderie that we’re building,” said Rams interim head coach Niko Rukavina.
The second set started off with a service error by the visitors, with the Rams earning an early lead. Another timeout was taken by the Excalibur after face a 5-0 deficit. Higuchi’s block and Shaikh’s kill put the Rams up 7-0.
Later in the set, Shaikh and Young’s blocks and Higuchi’s kill helped the Rams climb up to 16-7 lead before a second technical timeout was taken.
First-year Adrian Gaspar’s back to back service aces pushed the Rams lead to 18-7 lead over Trent. Walker and Higuchi’s consecutive kills put the Rams just four two shy of a win in the second set. A kill from Walker would help seal the second set of the game for the Rams.
“I’m just really happy to get the win. I’m glad we had a more commanding win today than yesterday even though they started to come back in the third set. But I think we did a really good job of keeping them down in the first two,” said Higuchi.
Shaikh’s serve in the third set led to an attack error by the Excalibur. The Rams were able to rack up four points before Trent took a timeout.
Following the timeout, the visitors were able to put one point on the scoreboard before the Rams made a comeback to lead the set 6-1 with Higuchi’s service ace.
A service error by the Excalibur and an ace from Walker put Trent at a 9-4 disadvantage.
A kill from Rams rookie Lucas Yang once again gave the Rams the upper hand with a score of 10-5 before the Excalibur were able to sneak in another point.
With the score up to 13-8, the Excalibur served a service ace followed by Higuchi’s kill. Another technical timeout was issued, with the score at 16-9.
A wrong deflection off the Excalibur put the Rams in a position of power with 18-9.
Despite a comeback effort from the Excalibur, the Rams were able to pull out a 23-19 lead. Shultis’ kill was enough to put the over the edge and win the set 25-21.
“I think we’re obviously an underdog going into the playoffs, but I think we could catch a couple teams off guard, especially the way we played against [the University of Toronto] which is one of the top teams,” said Rukavina.
UP NEXT: The Rams take on the Royal Military College Paladins on Saturday with the first serve flying at 8 p.m.
Leave a Reply