By Nicholas Vanderham

The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold women’s volleyball team fell in three sets to the Western Mustangs on Saturday night at the Mattamy Athletic Centre (MAC). 

The matchup marked TMU’s first game back at the MAC after a win and two losses during the McMaster Thanksgiving Classic. Their one win came against the Acadia Axewomen on Oct. 10 in a five-set thriller, following the two losses to the Brock Badgers and hosts McMaster Marauders.

The Bold came out flat in the first set, still attempting to shake off the rust from the tiring long weekend tournament. Western took a quick 6-1 lead after the opening, forcing the Bold to take an early timeout.

Attacking errors began to pile up for TMU, which allowed Western to take an 11-4 dominant lead. 

Despite the Bold battling back to bring the scoreboard to 12-9 in favour of the Mustangs, they were still outmatched and lost the opening set 25-18.

“We still finished with a pretty close set overall, so we just need to clean up our errors as we move forward into the regular season,” said acting head coach Julie Gordon.

The Bold were able to clean up their mistakes and played a very strong second frame. No team could separate from the other, as ten ties unfolded in these rallies. The scoreline kept tightening, this time with the set point in sight. Fourth-year outside hitter Tyra Krapp set up third-year middle Rayanna Amos-Ross Fisher for a crucial late kill to give the Bold a 22-20 lead.

“It was a tough game for us,” said Krapp. “There were just some little things we didn’t take care of today, but with that being said, the score was close.”

Western rattled off the next five points to take the set 25-22.

Playing out very similarly to the previous set, the third part of the game also racked up a large number of score ties, with very little margin for error on both sides. Krapp continued to impress, picking up a block, kill, and ace midway through the set.

With the score tied 13-13, the Mustangs went on a four-point run, which was later countered by a TMU run of their own. The Bold went 6-1 across seven rallies to take a late 19-18 lead.

The game came right down to the wire, but again TMU fell short, ending in a 25-22 Western win in the third and final set.

UP NEXT: The Bold host the Queen’s Gaels on Sunday at the MAC. The match is scheduled for 12 p.m.