By Brady Locke
The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold men’s volleyball team took care of business against the Trent Excalibur in a thrilling four-set match in their home opener at the Mattamy Athletic Centre (MAC) on Thursday night.
The Bold finally returned to home base after a four-game road trip to start the season. They went 2-2 in that span with two losses against the Windsor Lancers followed by two bounce-back wins against the Royal Military College Paladins.
“First two games against Windsor, a super hard team, they’re going to be a top team by the end of the season,” said graduate student and right side hitter Alex King. “We just had a little bit of a hiccup and now we’re just falling into the place we want to.”
The Bold, hungry for more, looked to build on the momentum they built against the Paladins this past weekend. On the other side, the Excalibur were looking to get on the right track and grab their first win of the season after their 0-2 start.
Trent came out hungry and very energetic looking to take away the electrifying home court advantage provided by the TMU fans. However, it was to no avail as multiple kills from King from the right side swung all the momentum the Bold’s way, a theme throughout the first set.
Following the second ace of the set from fourth-year outside hitter Jacob Walker, Trent had no choice but to take their first timeout of the match as TMU went up 13-8.
Despite the Bold outplaying Trent in the first set, they appeared to be their own worst enemy. Six service errors in the set allowed the Excalibur to stay right in the game.
Nevertheless, with a few hard hits for the Bold and some unforced errors from Trent, TMU was able to rally and wrap up the first set 25-21 on a high note.
As the second set got underway, the two teams came out trading shot for shot but several unforced errors from both sides kept either one from pulling ahead. It wasn’t until fourth-year outside hitter Lyam Krapp took matters into his own hands by hammering down two kills that the Bold seemed to gain an edge.
To follow that, fourth-year setter Taylor Wenzel pulled out a sneaky push spike placing it perfectly on the Trent side of the court. Wenzel has become a huge part of the team and in his final year, the Calgary product continues to build up momentum early in the season.
“The confidence is coming out of him the more and more he plays,” said Bold head coach Niko Rukavina of Wenzel.
The Excalibur were forced to burn their third timeout of the match to try and stop what the Bold were brewing as they went up 8-5.
A shift in momentum ensued after Trent had some big kills and a quick set smash from third-year middle Evan Burke. This along with back-to-back blocking blunders from the Bold allowed the Excalibur to take their first lead of the contest. TMU, not looking to let them flip the script, wasted no time taking a timeout down 13-10.
After being down 21-19 and all hope looking lost, the Excalibur were able to capitalize on some mistakes from TMU while placing multiple serves perfectly, grabbing a 23-21 advantage. The Bold burned yet another timeout in an attempt to keep their hopes for the set alive but it was too much to overcome and Trent held on with 25-23 victory, levelling the match up at one set apiece.
The Bold started the third set off with a bang as King was back at it again, this time with some blazing serves. This mixed with a huge kill from fourth-year outside hitter Kai Higuchi, allowed TMU to get out to a 10-6 lead, causing the Excalibur to use their first timeout of the third set.
Miscommunication quickly became the narrative of the third set for Trent as they couldn’t seem to get on the right page, whether that was with mishits, poor passes or mistimed digs. The Bold noticed and took advantage with an 18-11 lead capped off by a big block from King, something they have been perfecting as of late.
“The biggest change is that our outside blockers have just done a really good job at staying stable rather than floating out, we’re really just funnelling the hits into the middle blockers,” said King.
TMU didn’t look back from there as they coasted to a 25-16 win in the third set.
Now up two sets to one in the match, the fourth set went in similar fashion with big blasting hits from King. He soared to the sky and hammered down a quick set spike to give TMU an early 5-3 lead and added to his .429 hitting percentage in the contest.
“If I’m effective it’s just going to free up more space for other guys on the team,” said King
Team chemistry was booming and everything seemed to be connecting for the Bold. A diving save from Walker, which he then later in the rally followed up with a perfect set for fellow fourth-year Higuchi, who slammed it home for the exclamation point. Just like that, TMU was up 21-14.
From this point, the ending was near and all control belonged to TMU. They stayed calm and composed en route to a 25-17 finish in the set, taking the match 3-1 and extending their win streak to three, all while in the comfort of their own home.
“Feels good, honestly, just being able to play in our home gym. Looking forward to playing where we’ve been training, to get a win in our home gym just means a lot for our confidence for the rest of the season,” said Rukavina.
UP NEXT: The Bold get no chance to rest as they are faced with an opportunity to build on tonight’s win and take it right into tomorrow, matching up with Trent once again at the MAC. First-serve flies at 7 p.m.
Leave a Reply