By Daniel Carrero
The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold men’s volleyball team completed a 3-2 comeback against the Nipissing Lakers on Saturday evening at the Mattamy Athletic Centre (MAC).
After losing in straight sets on Friday night, the Bold corrected their mistakes to reverse sweep the Lakers after falling into a two-set deficit.
“That was probably the proudest moment I’ve had with this team this year,” said Bold interim head coach Niko Rukavina. “Just the way we played last night and knowing how big of a game that was and to lose how badly we did, [tonight showed] the resilience of the team.”
The Bold struggled early as Nipissing kept the lead throughout the first set.
Fourth-year Nipissing outside hitter Tyrus Cuculick kept complete control of the defence and attack for the Lakers. He finished the game with 11 kills, eight digs and four blocks.
After Cuculick blocked an attack from third-year outside hitter Jacob Walker, the Bold called a timeout while down by five.
“Everyone was pretty hyped up about today. [We were] able to redeem ourselves”
Aiming to fix their mistakes and tidy up their attack, the Bold were unsuccessful in capitalizing on their chances and the Lakers finished the set 25-19 to take the one-set lead.
After both teams traded blows, the home side took the lead in the second frame, 19-18, after a Bold attack hit Cuculick in the face.
Shortly after, TMU elected to call a timeout, which ultimately benefited Nipissing as the visitors regained momentum to finish the set at 25-23.
“I felt that we were playing the way we should be playing. I kept telling the guys to just keep powering through,” said Rukavina. “Then you saw the explosion that happened during the third set. Once we feel that confidence, then we start rolling.”
TMU were in the driver’s seat for the entire third set as they dominated the frame from the beginning.
The set was highlighted by TMU’s effort to contain the Lakers’ attack and counter with theirs. The Bold had a hitting percentage of .435—the highest of all sets from both sides—and .036 for Nipissing—the lowest of the game from both sides.
“[It was] definitely [a] rough game. I don’t think I performed like my normal self,” said Walker regarding his performance on Friday. “[I] gave myself a kick in the butt, reset mentally, came back [for a] new day.”
The fourth set was an accumulation of TMU’s growing confidence on the night. The home side won 25-17 to tie the set score at two apiece and force a final frame.
“It motivates us on the court to get the guys on the bench a little bit more jacked”
Coming out of a late Lakers timeout in the highly contested fifth set, Walker put the exclamation point on the Bold comeback with a kill down the middle of the court to secure the match win.
“Everyone was pretty hyped up about today. [We were] able to redeem ourselves,” said third-year outside hitter Ben Davey.
Third-year TMU setter Taylor Wenzel aided the Bold’s reverse sweep as he finished the night with a career-high of 47 assists.
“It was just playing a simple game, I have complete trust in my hitters, so they are the ones that are killing the ball for me,” said Wenzel.
Throughout the match, every TMU bench player would go down on their chest and do a couple of push-ups after a successful block. The idea was brought forth by the coaches 10 minutes before the first serve as a way to keep the players on the bench engaged.
“It motivates us on the court to get the guys on the bench a little bit more jacked,” said Wenzel. “We just wanted to have fun with it. We’ll see if we keep doing it but it worked for us tonight.”
NEXT UP: The Bold go on the road to play against the Waterloo Warriors on Feb. 2. First-serve flies at 8:00 p.m.
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