By Dream Homer
A nail-biting loss to the University of Toronto (U of T) Varsity Blues in last season’s playoffs, has sparked a jolt of momentum in the Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold men’s volleyball team this year.
Now, with their nine rookies from last season graduating to veteran status, the Bold have their sights set on the top of the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) conference.
“All the young starters have already had the experience of what the OUA is like and carried that and matured through the summer,” said fourth-year libero, Lhexen Rabit.
The players were young and hadn’t played together much before, so there was some unfamiliarity amongst the group last season. However, after making it as far as they did last year, the team is serious about going all the way this season and being a prominent threat in the east.
Jacob Walker’s talents took the league by storm with a team-high of over 100 kills last season and his main focus this season is to train and play hard and stay focused. The outside hitter earned OUA East Rookie of The Year honours, but now the secret’s out on the young star.
“I think last year he caught a lot of teams off guard with his skill and now teams know about him, they have video of him, they can make a game plan for him,” said interim coach Niko Rukavina. “He’s been working in practice a lot more on some of that stuff but I’m excited to see how he adjusts to some of that.”
For Walker, he feels no pressure heading into this season.
“I just look to the team for help,” he said. “Playing with the same guys, I’m more confident going into this season, more experienced and we’re good.”
With the season underway as of Nov. 4, the young team headed into this year with majority of the same set of players as last year. And now with the experience of an OUA playoff run, the squad is ready to push themselves farther than the quarter-finals.
“I just look to the team for help, playing with the same guys”
As one of the most experienced people on the team, Rabit understands the role he plays as a mentor to the younger players and wants to make a difference on the team, not just by his words.
“[I] appreciate the fact that I am a leader because not many players have the privilege that I have,” he said. “I try to lead the team as well based on my actions.”
And when it comes to maintaining this momentum throughout the long season and multiple back-to-back weekend games, Rukavina has the utmost faith in this team.
“I think we made headway last year and we made some progress and I thought we could’ve won a quarter-final and moved on and I still believe that for this team now,” said Rukavina. “We’re not here just to win a quarter-final, we want to push it and be a contender for an OUA championship.”
The Bold are off to an 0-3 start this year and the games to watch are against cross-town rivals, the Varsity Blues. The team has lost the last eight games against them but are determined to change the narrative this year.
The squad fell in a five-set thriller against their rivals this past Saturday and will have to wait until February for the rematch.
The TMU’s men’s volleyball team is no longer the band of inexperienced players they were last year. Instead, there’s playoff experience, maturity in players, more options on offense and a fine-tuned blocking defense. All of which will aid the Bold in their pursuit of a championship this season.
“We were disappointed with the result last season, we had that fire once we lost and that fire has been building up,” said Rabit.
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