The York University Lions men's volleyball team paid a visit to the St. Dennis Centre to take on the Windsor Lancers Saturday afternoon in their first of two road games this weekend. The Lions faced a tough match, falling to the Lancers in the first two sets before coming back to win three in a row and claim the match 3-2.
From the outset of the first set, the Lions knew they were up against some tough competition. The Lancers defeated the Lions 25-16 to take the lead in the match 1-0.
The Lions worked hard to keep up with the Lancers in the second set. The Lancers were able to reach match point by the two-point margin necessary to claim the set, with a final score of 25-23.
In the third, the Lions came back after trailing the Lancers for most of the set to win 25-22. The Lions took an early lead in the fourth and sped their way to their second win of the match. At one point, the Lions had an eight-point lead over their opponent. The Lancers were able to close this gap towards the end, but the Lions still walked off the court with a 26-24 win as they prepared themselves for a fifth and final set.
The fifth set saw no clear leader, with neither side holding more than a single point lead. A pair of kills from
Andrew Tauhid and
Robert Thompson helped the Lions pull ahead to a 15-12 win over the Lancers to take the match, their ninth win of the season to improve to 9-3. They remain in first place in the OUA East standings, while the Lancers fell to 7-4 and sit in fourth place in the OUA West.
Andrew Shotbolt was once again the top scorer for the Lions with 17.5 points (16 kills, one service ace, one assisted block). Tauhid also contributed an impressive 15.5 points to the Lions win (12 kills, one service ace, two solo blocks, one assisted block), and led the team in digs with 13.
Scoring for the Lancers was led by John Moate and Pierce Johnson with 17.5 and 17 points, respectively. Matthew Pe Benito had 14 digs for the Lancers.
The Lions will return to home court at the Tait McKenzie Centre on Friday, Feb. 9 where they will take on the Brock Badgers at 8pm. Before that, they will face the Western Mustangs on Sunday afternoon in London, Ont.
