M-VOLLEYBALL ROUNDUP: Two wins moves Queen's into tie for third
Guelph Gryphons @ Waterloo Warriors
The Warriors men's volleyball team picked up a crucial win on Friday night sweeping aside the Guelph Gryphons at the PAC in Waterloo. The win moved Waterloo in a tie for fourth place with the Gryphons as both teams boast a 9-7 record.
Outside hitters Fiodar Kazhamiaka (Waterloo) and Cameron Wheelan (Barrie) were unstoppable on the night both collecting 14 kills in the win.
All three set's had the same theme to them with both teams going point for point throughout before Waterloo would pull ahead late in each to earn the set victory.
In a marathon opening set it was third year middle Tyler Motherwell (Scarborough) who provided the home side with timely attacks and blocks while Kazhamiaka would put away the final kill giving Waterloo the 32-30 set win.
The second set saw Waterloo hold a two point lead throughout before setter Scott Thomson (St. Marys) gave Waterloo a crucial three point lead with a well disguised dump and the black and gold would capture the set 25-21.
The trend would continue into the third set with Kazhamiaka and Wheelan giving Waterloo crucial side out's at critical points of the match. Following a service error to the Gryphons, second year middle Jordan Dyck (St. Catharines) would put the game away with one of his seven kills as Waterloo captured the third and final set 25-22.
Wheelan added 10 digs in the match while Erich Woolley (New Dundee) dug the ball nine times. Thomson earned 45 assists in the win, finding his favourite targets Kazhamiaka and Wheelan at key moments in the game.
Fourth year outside hitter Winston Rosser (Whitby, Ont.) led the Gryphon attack with 12 kills while middle Marc Wilson (Stratford, Ont.) added 11. Setter Kevin McCallum (Toronto) put up 44 assists in a losing effort.
Waterloo has the remainder of the weekend off and will be back in action next Friday against the York Lions at the PAC. Waterloo is 5-2 at their home court on the season.
Source: Warriors Athletics
The Varsity Blues men’s volleyball team notched their third win of the season with a dominant 3-0 (25-15, 25-13, 25-9) victory over the RMC Paladins on Saturday, January 28 at the Athletic Centre Sports Gym.
The win improves U of T to a 3-10 record as they move into eighth place in the OUA standings.
Sophomore standout Jake Dysselhof of Mississauga, Ont., led the Blues with seven kills, while Matthew Vares (Scarborough) had six kills and four digs.
Michael Denton notched a team-high seven digs and rookie setter and Lethbridge, Alta., native Steven Khuu amassed 33 assists in the win.
RMC was led by a five-kill performance from Logan Morris.
Source: Varsity Blues Athletics
KINGSTON, Ont. (January 28, 2012)- The Queen's Gaels (9-6) dominated in a road win over the Ryerson Rams (2-12), beating the host Rams in three straight sets (25-23, 27-25, 25-21). Ryerson pressed the Gaels from the get-go, forcing the Gaels to win their first two sets by the slimmest of margins.
Notable performances for the Gaels included setter Jackson Dakin of Courtenay, B.C. who killed 4 balls while also running the team's offense, registering 30 assists and libero Niko Rukavina of Mississauga, Ont. who provided stalwart defense from the backcourt, digging up 10 balls for the Gaels.
Luka Milosevic of Toronto, Ont. led Ryerson with a game high 19 kills, while also finding some success from the service line with 2 aces.
Source: Gaels Athletics
The Lancer men's volleyball team split their final two home games over the weekend with the York Lions and second place McMaster Marauders.
The Lancers improved to 10-5 on the year Saturday afternoon with a 3-1 (25-20, 25-22, 21-25, 25-19) victory over the visiting York Lions.
Game one saw strong attacking from Kyle Williamson and Harrison Oake who had 4 and 3 kills respectively.
The Lancers took the second set using five kills from Oake and strong net play by Scott Hickman, Jimmy El-Turk, and Will Alexander.
The Lions took the third game 21-25 in a game full of runs. With the Lancers up 16-12, York went on an 8-0 run to eventually take the game.
In the final game, Windsor lead the bulk of the way on the strength of Oake's 4 kills and El-Turk's 4. Alexander paced the Lancers attack with 9 assists in the set.
Source: Lancers Athletics
LONDON, Ont. – Western University’s men’s volleyball team (14-1) proved why they are in first in the OUA and No. 6 in the country with a solid 3-0 sweep of their next closest OUA rival, the McMaster Marauders (11-3) tonight at Alumni Hall.
Set scores were 25-16, 25-22 and 25-20.
The Mustangs went up 5-1 in set one forcing the Marauders into an early timeout. Great offensive play was seen from both teams with hard hits and big digs. The Mustangs came out with the first set 25-16.
McMaster led 10-7 in the second set before Western came back 15-14. The teams went kill for kill to 19 when McMaster took their second timeout. Jori Mantha came back with a big hit for the Marauders and with defense on their side, the Mustangs pushed back and went up two sets to none with a score of 25-22.
The third set was the most intense as the Marauders tried to take it and force a fourth. The Mustangs led the entire way though and won 25-23.
The win gives the Mustangs 11 sweeps on the season so far.
Mathieu Poulin had 12 kills, three aces and two solo blocks for the Mustangs.
Jeremy Groenveld led the Marauders with 12 kills, 2 digs and one solo block.
Source: Mustangs Athletics
TORONTO- The Ryerson Rams men's volleyball team snapped their 10-game losing streak in their final home game at Kerr Hall Gym, defeating the RMC Paladins in straight sets (25- 20, 25-22, 25-12) to tally their third win of the season.
Before the match, graduating athletes Luka Milosevic and Roman Kabanov were honoured for their contributions to the men's volleyball program.
Kabanov joined the Ryerson Rams as a walk-on at the beginning of the 2007-08 season, and made the transition as a starting middle through his development each year. He led the Rams in blocks in his third and fourth season with Ryerson, and was ranked fourth in the OUA in 2010-11 with a total of 63 blocks.
Since he was named an OUA all-rookie in the 2008-09 season, Milosevic has risen to lead team scoring in his fourth and final season with the Rams. Coming into today's action, Milosevic was ranked amongst the conference's best, averaging over four points per set and leading the Rams with 126 kills and 16 aces.
The teams traded points early in the opening set, but the Rams were able to gain some momentum and spread the lead to five. However, RMC fired back with four straight points, before a kill from Kabanov (Toronto) put Ryerson up 16-14 at the technical timeout.
However, Jeff Filmore came up with a block and followed it up with an ace to pull the Paladins even after the break. However, kills from Kabanov and Dawson (Scarborough, Ont.) helped the Rams streak for six-straight, leading the Paladins to take a timeout down 22-16.
The Paladins went on a 4-1 run to pull within three, but Sakverelidze gave his team a set point, and Dawson connected on an ace to give the Rams a 1-0 match lead.
RMC went up 6-3 in the second set, and held a 10-6 advantage in the early going. The Rams rallied and notched the contest even at 11-11. Sakverelidze (Toronto) picked up two more points to help the men take a 16-14 lead into the technical.
The Rams looked to be in control, but the stingy Paladins squad would keep the set close, winning four of five points to cut the deficit to one. A timely ace from Aleksa Miladinovic (Belgrade, Serbia) gave the men some breathing room, but another Rams error gave RMC another chance to pull even. Ryerson committed a second-straight mistake on attack, and the score was tied at 21-21.
Dawson and Stefan Ristic (Belgrade) managed to put Ryerson ahead once again, and they would keep the advantage to go up by two sets in the contest.
The Rams found their stride in the third, quickly building a sizeable advantage as they grabbed a 16-10 lead at the technical. Kabanov tallied a couple of kills and a block on three straight points as Ryerson spread the lead to ten. They would sail from there to take the third set and overall match.
The Rams (3-11) will round out the regular season on the road, as they head to Hamilton next Friday for a match-up with McMaster before concluding with games against city rivals York and Toronto on February 11 and 12 respectively.
Source: Rams Athletics
TORONTO (January 29, 2012) - The Gaels (10-6) swept their second match of the weekend, beating the Toronto Varsity Blues (3-11) in three straight sets (25-21, 25-18, 25-10). This victory moved the Gaels into a tie for third place in the OUA.
Joren Zeeman of Cambridge, Ont. led the Gaels with 12 kills, four digs and two aces.
Once again, it was the Gael's consistency on the attack which helped them defeat their opponent, making a mere 11 attack errors as a team. Comparatively, the Blues surrendered 26 points on attack errors as they struggled to find a way through the Gael wall at the net.
Centering the strong Gael net presence while also contributing on the offense was centre Michael Amoroso of Toronto. Amoroso registered eight kills, and sealed the net for two solo blocks.
Niko Rukavina of Mississauga, Ont. dug up 10 balls from the backcourt to lead the defense for the Gaels.
Matthew Vares of Scarborough, Ont posted a team high seven kills for the Blues.
The Gaels Men will join their female counterparts when they both face-off against Western next Saturday, Febuary 4th at the ARC.
Four Marauders scored in double figures in a straight sets victory over the Windsor Lancers on Sunday afternoon at the St. Denis Centre.
McMaster took the first set 25-17 followed a 25-18 victory in the second set. They closed out the match with a 25-13 win in the third set.
Tyson Alexander was the top scorer for the Marauders with 13 points on 10 kills. Jeremy Groenveld also had 10 kills and 12 points. Kevin Stevens added nine kills and 10 points while Jori Mantha had 10 points with 8 kills. TJ Sanders had 28 assists in the win.
Andrew Foster was the top scorer for the Lancers with eight points on eight kills.
With the win McMaster improved to 12-3 in conference play and currently stand alone in second place with three conference matches to play.
The Marauders will close out the home portion of their regular season on Friday, February 3rd when they host the Ryerson Rams at the Burridge Gym. The mach gets underway at 8:00 pm.
Source: Marauders Athletics
LONDON, Ont. – With only one loss this season, the Western Mustangs (15-1) secured a spot in the OUA semi-finals this afternoon with a 3-0 win over the York Lions (6-8) at Alumni Hall.
Set scores were 25-13, 25-17 and 25-17.
Western held York to only 13 points in the first set, indicative of what was to come. Both teams had 26 total attacks in set one, but Western connected with the hardwood 11 times, compared to only 6 times for their counterpart. Mathieu Poulin, Garrett May and Phil James each had an ace in the set.
In set two, the Mustangs held a sizable lead over the Lions with a score of 16-10 at the first break. By the end of the set, Western had gained two more points in the spread winning 25-17 on a nicely placed roll shot from May. May and Poulin each had five kills. Marko Dakic had five kills for the Lions.
The third set saw James serve six in a row for the Mustangs before relinquishing the side out to the Lions. Attack errors for both teams increased along with much longer rallies than usual. Service errors from each team put the score at 16-8 in favour of the Mustangs at the technical timeout. The teams traded blocks for a couple points before second-year Mustang Doug Austrom powered through the Lions block for a kill and the final point in the match. The Mustangs took the third set 25-17.
Poulin led the Mustangs for the second match in a row with 13 points (12 kills, 1 ace, 1 dig). May had 10 points (9 kills, 1 ace, 5 digs) and Sean McKay 28 assists.
Dakic had seven points for the Lions (7 kills, 2 digs).
The Mustangs honoured graduating players Poulin and Waite at today’s game. Collectively the duo has contributed 997 kills and 1265 total points in 384 sets over the past four years.
Western travels to Kingston next weekend, February 4 and 5, for games against Queen’s and RMC before returning to Alumni to host the Final Four OUA Tournament on Feb. 24 and 25.
Source: Mustangs Athletics
