By Mitchell Fox
The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold women’s volleyball team fell in four sets in the second game of a back-to-back with the Nipissing Lakers on Saturday afternoon at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.
The Bold entered the game having won six of their last seven games and had mastered the Lakers in straight sets the night before but were not able to deal with a more aggressive opponent.
“I think the big change was how aggressive they attacked and how their serve kept us off balance more today than it did yesterday,” said Bold head coach Dustin Reid on the difference between Friday and Saturday.
The Lakers came into the game confident, taking it to TMU from the get-go and never let down. They fought for every ball and made miraculous digs, coming away with the better share of points off long rallies.
The first set started with a back-and-forth battle but saw the Bold call the game’s first timeout with the score at 11-8 for Nipissing after the visitors went on a 4-0 run.
TMU bounced back with a few powerful hits following the huddle, but Nipissing managed to control the pace of the play.
With a 25-19 first-set win, the Lakers found a comfortable and confident rhythm they carried into the next three sets. While the Bold looked desperate, the Lakers looked hungry and unwilling to give up on any ball, even diving into the bench.
Nipissing had 12 blocks to TMU’s eight in the game.
“We were trying to find a spark near the end but it was hard”
Fourth-year middle Ashley Ditchfield said the Lakers’ more structured defence compared to Friday posed a challenge for the Bold.
“I think we just have to stay confident in our skills and keep swinging away at the end of the day,” she said.
A big difference in the match came at the tail end of the sets.
On Friday, the Bold won a nail-biting first set at 30-28 and had to score five straight points to win the third frame at 25-20. On Saturday, the Lakers fought their way to victories in each set, while the Bold did not look so confident or comfortable in the biggest moments.
“I think we got caught standing around a bit, rhetorically speaking, waiting for them to make more mistakes,” Reid said. “We were waiting for them to gift us some points and that didn’t really happen.”
The Bold couldn’t create points of their own towards the end of sets, which could have changed the trajectory of the game.
“We had chances to win the second set [and] we had chances to win the fourth set, which would have given us a match, but we weren’t able to take advantage of the opportunities we created for ourselves,” said Reid.
Ditchfield said she thought communication, especially on block defence, was a key reason for the loss. She also pointed to a need to get points earlier in sets.
“Yesterday, I think we had a little bit more energy and a little bit more urgency in the beginning half of our sets,” she said.
In the second set, TMU grabbed the lead early and fought hard to hold on, but the Lakers’ onslaught proved too much. The Bold fell behind due to some uncharacteristic unforced errors.
The Bold made some costly service errors making six to the Lakers’ three in the first two sets.
TMU fought back in the third set, not allowing a 17-10 Lakers lead to tear down their spirits. With hits from Ditchfield, fifth-year outside hitter Lauren Veltman—who led the team with 15 kills—and first-year outside hitter Kaiya Krahn leading the way, they won the set 25-21.
A strong string of serves by Lakers second-year outside hitter Oceane Raymond-Leduc and key plays from fellow sophomore outside hitter Paige Owen—who had a game-high 25 kills paired with 13 digs—led the Lakers in fourth-set dominance. Nipissing took the fourth and final frame 25-21 to ensure match victory.
“We definitely were playing tense. We were trying to find a spark near the end but it was hard,” said third-year outside hitter Scarlett Gingera. “Our emotions definitely got in the way [of] that game.”
Though the Bold were hard on themselves in the moment, Gingera believes they can use the loss to learn for their upcoming matchups.
“If we treat it the right way, I think this loss is going to benefit us in the future because we’re going to know what we need to do to win,” she added.
The Bold currently sit sixth out of 14 teams in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) standings, just behind the Waterloo Warriors.
There are currently four teams with a win percentage over .700 that lead the OUA. Reid said his team needs to find a way to pull through a tough point in the season to get into that top tier of squads.
“If we were serious about being at the top part of that, we would have came out a little differently today and played a little more freely today,” Reid said. “The reality is our next three matches are going to be super tough.”
UP NEXT: The Bold head to Waterloo, Ont. for a two-game slate against the Warriors. The first gets underway on Feb. 2 at 6:00 p.m.
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