By Jordan Vishal Bickramsingh
The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold men’s volleyball team lost in straight sets against the McMaster Marauders at the Mattamy Athletic Centre (MAC) Friday night.
The Bold brought their best efforts in three close sets, but it wasn’t quite enough to overcome the returning Ontario University Athletics (OUA) champions in the first of two games this weekend.
“Coming into this weekend, we were pretty happy about our win against Western, it brought us some confidence. I think we could’ve won all three sets and we could’ve won this game three-nothing,” said Bold head coach Niko Rukavina. “It’s a little bit more frustrating that we let it get away, but we got a game tomorrow.”
This highly anticipated game brought out a sizable crowd and the energy was high from the first serve. The Marauders earned an early lead but it got shut down when third-year outside hitter Riley Donovan stepped to the service line and led a five-point streak from the Bold to tie the game 8-8.
The match then slowed down as both teams traded service errors. Rukavina, however, wasn’t too concerned.
“We need to be aggressive at the service line with a team like that. I’m okay with some of those errors,” said Rukavina. “Against a team that has a player like [graduate outside hitter Maxime Gratton], you have to execute like that.”
Gratton is a three-time OUA champion with the Marauders and finished last season second in the OUA in service aces per set with 0.54. He had three aces in the game, alongside a game-high 12 kills.
The energy started picking up as a massive double block from Bold graduate right side hitter Alex King and Donovan stuffed what seemed to be a powerful line shot from second-year Marauders outside hitter Kaden Zunti.
“This year I requested both bleachers to be out at every game because I want to see if we can pack both sides. I think the more fans we get, the more we ride with that energy,” said Rukavina. “We’ve got a lot of home games and we want to create that home court energy.”
With fourth-year Bold outside hitter Jacob Walker up to serve, the Bold pulled ahead by four points, forcing the Marauders to take the first timeout of the game. This timeout did not slow the Bold down as Walker scored a no-touch service ace right as play resumed. Following this up, the Marauders substituted in graduate setter Robbie Fujisawa, who immediately scored his own no-touch service ace.
The set went on with a display of immense air defence from both teams, complemented by skillful ground play from fourth-year Bold libero Tony Tanouchev and fourth-year Marauders libero Matthew Rugosi.
The ironclad defensive game kept the set tight until Gratton closed it out with a massive line shot, ending the first set 22-25.
The second set continued with a display of both teams’ blocking abilities.The Marauder’s air defence, led by Gratton, showed its teeth with more dominance displayed by Zunti and second-year middle blocker Jared Kuiken. Still, this blocking power did not stop the Bold from taking an early 6-3 lead, which they held for most of the set.
As the set progressed, both teams turned the power up a notch, playing much more aggressively with many impressive spikes from Walker, King and Gratton. As the Marauders defence reached its highest point, they pulled ahead with a four-point streak led by Gratton’s serves to take the lead at 21-18.
The Bold managed to tie up the set at the last second with a point from Walker off of a difficult dig from Tanouchev. They then took the lead with a powerful team-up block from King and second-year outside hitter Day Westell. It wasn’t enough, though, as the Marauders managed to reclaim their lead and clean out the second set at 27-25 with a service ace from first-year middle blocker Ashton Fox-Kristense.
The Bold changed things up in the third set, bringing in fourth-year outside hitter Kai Higuchi. The Marauders’ air defence proved to be no match for Higuchi as he showed off his ability to tool the Marauder’s blocks with both power and finesse. The set was close from the beginning, both sides closely trading points.
The crowd got rowdy in the third set, with the two squads showing off their skills, led by Higuchi and Kuiken’s abilities to get through blocks.
Drawing near to the end of the set, the Bold reached set point with a three-point lead at 24-21. Just like the previous two sets, however, McMaster proved too strong at the end. The Marauders were not willing to give up, going on a four-point scoring streak with Fox-Kristense on the service line.
The Bold and Marauders went back and forth exchanging points, unable to claim the two-point difference needed for a victory. Ultimately, the game reached its thrilling conclusion off the hand of the top-scorer in the game, Gratton. The Ottawa product scored a powerful service ace, earning another victory for the Marauders.
“We really tried to get dialed in on McMaster this week.” said Rukavina. “I think we came out, we knew what we needed to do. Now we know what they have and we can adjust for [next game].”
UP NEXT: The Bold will look for victory in their rematch against the McMaster Marauders at the MAC on Jan. 18. First-serve flies at 6 p.m.
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