YORK ELIMINATES MUSTANGS

LONDON - The defending OUA Champion York Lions men's volleyball team defeated the host Western Mustangs 3-1in OUA quarter-final action on Wednesday night. York will face the No. 8 ranked Ryerson Rams in the semi-finals on Saturday, with the winner advancing to the best-of-three OUA Championship next week against the winner of the other semi-final between Queen's and McMaster.

The Rams finished in first place with a 18-2 record, while the Lions were fifth with a record of 13-7. The teams split a pair of regular season meetings with Ryerson winning the first match in straight sets on November 16, while the Lions won the second match in five sets on January 12. Saturday's contest is set for 4pm at Ryerson.

In Wednesday's victory over Western, three York players reached double-figures in kills. Middle JameS Battiston recorded a match-high 13 kills, while Ryan Anderson and Sholan Trivedi added 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Anderson also registered a team-high five blocks. Alex Jerome led the Mustang offense with 12 kills, while Eric Simon added 11. Dan Miller recorded a match-high 10 blocks.

OUA Men's Volleyball Playoffs
Quarter-finals, Feb. 16
#5 York 3 at #4 Western 1 (15-25, 25-23, 25-17, 25-23)
#6 Toronto 0 at #3 McMaster 3 (19-25, 19-25, 23-25)

Semi-finals, Feb 18
#5 York at #1 Ryerson
#3 McMaster at #2 Queen's

(Source: Jim McLarty, York Sports Information.)

(Photo: York's Ryan Anderson came up big in the Lions quarter-final win over Western with 11 kills and five blocks. Photo by Andrew Craig.)