The York University Lions men's volleyball team welcomed the Queen's Gaels to Tait McKenzie Centre on Friday night to open a crucial weekend series. The Lions came into this game 3-3, and we were looking to end their winless spell after losing three straight. The Gaels, on the other hand, came into this game with an impressive 7-1 record.
It was a competitive first set that saw the teams trade runs. The Gaels had leads of 13-9, 16-12 and 19-15, but York battled back to tie it at 22 on a Chris Hoffman kill. However, after York took a 24-23 lead, the Gaels reeled off three straight points and narrowly took the first set 26-24, Alex Dorling led the way in the middle for York with four kills and a block.
The Lions bounced back, taking the second set 25-19. The Lions controlled the set throughout., thanks to an early 5-0 run to put them up 7-4. The Lions never relinquished the lead from there, and won it convincingly to tie the match 1-1. Hoffman led the team in points in the second set.
After falling behind 6-1 to open the third, head coach Jordan Taylor called a timeout However, the Lions weren't about to go down quietly. Down 18-14, they scored five of the next seven points, thanks to two kills each from Hoffman, who also had an ace, and Colby Soolsma, to take a 20-19 lead. They eventually took it 25-21, going on an 11-3 run to close the set, punctuated by a Soolsma ace to give the Lions the lead.
In a reversal of the third, it was the Gaels who went on a run late to steal the fourth and extend the match. After York roared out to a 13-9 lead, Queen's responded with eight of the next 10 points to take a 17-15 advantage. They eventually took the fourth by that same 25-21 margin and forced a fifth and deciding set.
The Lions gave up the opening point of the fifth on a Nikola Mitrovic kill, but never trailed again. They scored four straight on kills from Dennis Cota and Alex Ko, plus another Soolsma ace, to take a 4-1 lead. They then scored three straight points on Queen's errors, and after kills from Soolsma and Hoffman, led 10-4. They took the fifth set comfortably, winning 15-7 and earning a huge five-set victory.
Hoffman and Soolsma led the team in kills with 16 and 15 respectively, while Jasraj Nijjar had 45 assists on the night to move over the 2,000 assist mark for his career.
LOOKING AHEAD:
Nijjar will look to improve upon that on Saturday night when the Lions go toe-to-toe with the Gaels in the second leg of their weekend series. First serve flies at 6:00 pm from Tait McKenzie Centre. You can also stream the match on OUA TV.
