By Jordan Bickramsingh
The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold men’s volleyball team won in straight sets against the Trent Excalibur at the Mattamy Athletic Centre (MAC) Friday evening.
The win extends the Bold’s perfect record against the Excalibur to 14-0. After the Bold beat them in four sets on Thursday, Trent were no doubt hoping to earn their first win of the season in revenge. The Bold were not willing to give it to them, instead coming back stronger. This win takes the Bold’s record this season to 4-2, a big step up from last year, which they started 2-4.
“We’re trying to win every game and we’re taking the long approach here and just trying to get better every day,” said Bold head coach Niko Rukavina. “I think we got better from last night and that’s the biggest thing right now.”
The first set began with a monstrous block from fourth-year right side hitter Alex King, scoring the first point for the Bold and setting the tone for the game. King would not let up on both offence and defence for the entire game, truly living up to his name.
The set quickly heated up with a 30-second rally, which ended when second-year outside hitter Day Westell landed a powerful spike down the center of the court. This was quickly followed up by a cheeky attempt at a dump by fourth-year setter Taylor Wenzel, which was stuffed by third-year Trent middle blocker Evan Burke.
But that did not discourage Wenzel, as he immediately made up for it with a slick quick set to King, who landed a shocking soft touch. This split-second call by King earned a skillful point, taking advantage of the Excalibur expecting a powerful quick attack.
Wenzel followed up on this with major assists to the Bold’s kills score by fourth-year outside hitter Kai Higuchi, who went on to become an unstoppable force in this game.
Another unstoppable force in this game was fourth-year outside hitter Jacob Walker. His serves were in mid-season form and his impressive ground defence proved to be an especially irritating problem for the Excalibur to deal with.
As the set went on, the scores stayed neck-and-neck. For almost the entire time, there remained a consistent single-point gap between the teams. Towards the end of the set, the Excalibur reminded the Bold that they were not to be taken lightly through fourth-year outside hitter Nic Badalato’s back-to-back service aces.
The lead gained by Badalato was quickly taken back when Wenzel showed off his immense skill as a setter by changing his direction mid-air and setting to fourth-year outside hitter Lyam Krapp, who unleashed a piercing cut-shot.
The Bold managed to close out the set 28-26 after a critical attacking error from the Excalibur. Though they managed to take the set, it was much too close for comfort, and the Bold made sure to come out swinging in the second set.
One player who took this especially seriously was Higuchi, whose performance in the second set doubled down from a strong opening frame.
Together with Higuchi’s offence, the Bold’s defence took it up a notch in the form of King, Walker and fourth-year libero Lucas Yang. King and Walker formed an impenetrable air defence, while Yang proved that the ground was off-limits with his agile ground defence.
Things seemed to slow down for the Bold when the Excalibur subbed in second-year setter Ashwynn Deol and fourth-year outside hitter Max Kauffman. They shook up the game, with Kauffman scoring a no-touch service ace immediately after being subbed in.
However, the Bold quickly adapted to these changes and took the set 25-22 after Westell scored an intuitive kill off an overpass by the Excalibur.
When asked how they were able to adapt so quickly, King said the key was sticking to the game plan.
“Just keeping the energy high and using those subs to our advantage,” he said.
Going into the third set, the Bold were determined to win and best themselves after their previous victory. Their momentum quickly started building after King tipped the ball into the Excalibur’s court to earn the first point.
Things began to heat up when disorderly conduct from Trent’s head coach Colin Walker resulted in the team receiving a red card—which meant Trent got a point revoked, making the score 8-3. Soon afterwards, third-year setter Aly Saydam continued to taunt the Bold by celebrating under the net, something the official didn’t enjoy and flagged with a warning to Trent’s captain.
With tension at an all-time high, Higuchi received a yellow card due to disorderly conduct after he replicated the celebration in his own way to Saydam.
Despite the abrupt change of pace, the set continued with everyone on the Bold’s side of the court working to earn several skillful points and get into a winning rhythm. This rhythm resulted in an eight-point hole that the Excalibur just could not escape.
That being said, the Excalibur were not going to go down without a fight. After a service error from third-year Trent outside hitter Charlie Winser brought the Bold to game point, the Excalibur went on a four-point scoring streak.
The streak was brought to an abrupt end when Krapp came flying out of the back row to attack down the center of the court and score the winning point, closing out the set 25-18.
Rukavina expressed satisfaction with the level of cooperative play from his team.
“It’s huge. It’s the number one thing I talk about, being connected, and I felt like we were very connected in that game,” he said.
UP NEXT: The Bold will look to continue their form against the University of Toronto Varsity Blues at the Goldring Centre on Nov. 22. First serve flies at 5:30 p.m.
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