TORONTO – The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold men’s volleyball squad knocked off the ninth-ranked York Lions in emphatic fashion on Friday evening, keeping their playoff aspirations alive with a resounding 3-0 (25-18, 25-21, 25-15) win on home court.
Buoyed by a game-changing 10-0 run in the middle frame, the Bold combined a dominant display at both the net and baseline to kill off the Lions off in straight sets, with Alex King leading the charge with 15 kills, four blocks and tying a career-high with just as many service aces in the route.
“I thought that was one of the best games we played all year,” said Head Coach of the Bold, Niko Rukavina following his side’s decisive victory on Friday. “I think that second set was important to us because we did have a lull at the start where we weren’t playing our best and we turned that lull around really fast,” he added.
“We know why we’re playing these games and we want to win these games,” said Riley Donovan, who finished the contest with a pair of blocks, both coming in the final frame, to help extinguish the Lions’ fighting spirit.
“Playoffs are still on the line so if we can win, then we have a chance,” he added.
TMU fired off a warning shot to the nationally-ranked Lions in the early stages of the first set, jumping out to an 8-4 lead and failing to relinquish their grip on their western rival.
The home side picked up steam through their relentless play at the net to establish a healthy gap over the Lions, thwarting their opponents attack on four separate occasions in the first frame alone before taking the set by a 25-18 score.
The Lions struggled to tame their serve in the opener and cost themselves a game-worst eight points as a result. The visitors were able to straighten out their serve in the second, but even their fix became irrelevant to TMU’s ability to ring off uncontested serves at will to help take a stranglehold on Friday’s match.
Trailing the Lions 17-12 in the middle frame, the Bold rallied around four service aces in a defining 10-0 run to completely flip the set on its head and suck the life out of a York defensive unit unable to stop the bleeding.
The Bold took full advantage, bringing the crowd to their feet on multiple occasions to come out of the run leading 22-17. The home side put a bow on their crucial comeback with three points late in the set to take a 2-0 lead into the third frame.
“That 10-point run was huge,” said Rukavina. [King] was awesome at the service line so really happy with the guys there.”
A set away from shutting out the nationally-ranked Lions, TMU failed to take their foot off the gas and shifted the weight to their stars along the perimeter of the court. Jacob Walker and King helped steer the Bold to victory with a team-leading five and four kills respectively in the set to slam the door shut on York’s bid for a comeback.
Consecutive kills from King helped the Bold establish a 10-5 lead in the frame, later to be reinforced by a pair of kills from Walker on back-to-back occasions to maintain TMU’s advantage at 13-8.
The Bold kept their noses in front of the Lions until the very end, closing out the visitors for good with a two-hand block from Walker to snap York’s five-game winning streak and set up a pivotal matchup between the two teams on Saturday.
The Bold will host the Lions once more, with first serve set to fly at 3 pm. The blue and gold will honour their graduating seniors prior to the match while maintaining their objective of winning to give themselves a chance at holding the OUA’s final playoff spot. TMU students can attend the match for free with their OneCard.
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