Mustangs and Varsity Blues clash Friday for playoff positioning

BURLINGTON, Ont. – Heading into the final weekend of the OUA men's volleyball regular season, just two points separate the Western Mustangs (10-8) and University of Toronto Varsity Blues (11-7) when the two teams face off on Friday night.

The match is scheduled to begin at 6:00pm from the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport on the campus of the University of Toronto.

Toronto currently find themselves in fourth place in the conference standings, while Western sits directly behind them in fifth.  Not only could this weekend's game have an impact on the final standings, but the outcome could also determine home court advantage in the quarterfinals.

The Varsity Blues come into Friday's contest as one of the hottest teams in OUA, having won seven of their last ten games, including a 3-2 upset last Saturday over the No. 1 ranked McMaster Marauders.  In that game, right William Colucci (Toronto, Ont.) led all players with an outstanding 26 point performance collecting 23 kills, one blocked shot, and four block assists, while setter Aleksa Miladinovic (Toronto, Ont.) finished the five-set contest with 46 assists along with eight digs, one service ace, and one block assist.

It has been an up and down season for the Mustangs who enter the game having split their past ten games.  Western rattled off three straight wins in late October and early November, however, have been relatively inconsistent since then. 

Friday's game will be the second meeting this season between the two teams.  Earlier in the season, the Varsity Blues stormed Alumni Hall and took the game against the Mustangs in straight sets.  Middle Mike Choja (London, Ont.) led the Mustangs offence with ten points from nine kills and one solo block, but it was Toronto's left Stefan Ristic (Belgrade, Serbia) who led all players with 19 points from 18 kills and one block.

Ristic, a fifth-year Italian/German major, has established himself as a leader on the court this season for the Blues and his strong play has him in the top five of several conference statistical categories.  The Belgrade, Serbia native leads OUA with 0.51 service aces per set and ranks second in the league in kills per set with 4.13.  Following closely behind Ristic is his counterpart Colucci who is averaging 3.93 kills per set and sits tied for fourth.

As a team, the Blues rank seventh in OUA with 10.79 assists per set, however, Miladinovic finds himself ranked fifth the conference in assists per set at 9.43.  Of Toronto's 723 assists this season, the fourth-year pharmacy major accounts for 641 (88.6%).

Toronto also leads OUA in digs per set thanks in part to the strong play of rookie libero Andrew Kos (Toronto, Ont.).  In just his first season in the league, Kos has played in all 18 matches for his hometown Blues and ranks third in OUA with 2.68 digs per set.  As team, the Varsity Blues are averaging 12.14 digs per set.

If the Mustangs are to upset the Blues on their home court, they'll hope to have middle Chris Newcombe (Tavistock, Ont.) on the court come Friday.  Newcombe, who has been battling injury as of late, ranks third in OUA in hitting percentage (.345), while defensively he sits in fourth with 0.93 blocks per set.  The 6-foot-8 middle is a big reason why as team Western ranks fifth with 2.19 blocks per set.  If Newcombe can't go for Western, expect Evan Hammond (London, Ont.) to shore up the middle for the Mustangs.

Western will also be missing outside hitter Gavin Taylor (Brampton, Ont.) due to injury but Bryn Ramsay (Whitby, Ont.) has stepped up to fill the void.  Ramsay, a second-year nursing student-athlete is averaging 1.91 kills and 0.50 blocks per set.

Western's aerial attack runs through second-year setter Matt Hooker (Winnipeg, Man.) who is averaging 9.20 assists per set.  Hooker was named to the 2014-15 OUA all-rookie team a season ago after he played in 43 sets across 16 matches, recording an average of 8.05 assists per set, and 0.98 digs per set.

The Mustangs have a well-balance attack as six players on their roster have over 100 points this season.  Leading the way for Western is fourth-year middle Mike Choja who has 185 points for his hometown Mustangs.  Choja has scored 10 points or more in 11 of his 18 games this season, including a season high 18 points again the York Lions earlier this month.

Following Friday night's tilt with Toronto, the Mustangs will take on another team they're chasing in the standings, the Ryerson Rams (12-6).  For the Varsity Blues, they will welcome the Windsor Lancers (7-11) to the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport on Saturday night.

The playoffs are scheduled to begin next weekend with the quarterfinals, followed by the OUA Men's Volleyball Final Four Championship March 4-5, hosted by the first place team following the completion of the regular season.