As sure as the Lakers making the NBA finals and turkey and cranberries on the Thanksgiving table, another annual ritual is set to begin this Thursday when the Varsity Blues meet Queen’s in the best-of-three OUA East men’s volleyball final.
After finishing second behind the Golden Gaels in the division in the regular season, U of T (12-3) had to first win an East semifinal over third place York (11-4), and the Blues took care of that item of business Sunday afternoon, winning 3-1 (25-21, 23-25, 25-17, 25-19).
For two games, Sunday’s match was close, but U of T took control of the match for good in the third stanza after dropping a tight second game to give the Yeomen life, albeit for only a few fleeting moments.
Blues coach Orest Stanko said afterwards that he felt that his team dictated play in the match, and that the result was nearly an inevitable one.
“It was a little bit of a mismatch at different positions,” said Stanko. “Other than number 11 for York (Domingo Miguel) and number seven in the middle (Ben Smyth) we weren’t really concerned with anyone else on offence.”
Second-year Blue Josh Binstock, who led U of T with 18 kills and nine digs, echoed that sentiment, saying U of T took advantage of some clear mismatches to knock off York.
“Overall, height and power. We just have bigger outside players, I think, and they have one guy (Miguel, who had a match high 20 kills),” explained Binstock.
“We know what they’re going to do and key on them and if their other players don’t step up—which they didn’t—then that makes it easier on us.”
U of T also got a strong match from Marc Arseneau, who put away 15 kills and kept alive 12, while Adrian Weglo added 10 kills. Blocking proved to be a big advantage to the Blues, who had a stunning 44-6 edge in team blocks, largely thanks to a 20-1 lead in blocking assists.
While U of T only had a slight edge in overall kills, they benefitted from erratic play by the visitors, who made 27 errors compared to 12 for the home side.
While U of T dominated games three and four of the match, outscoring the Yeomen by a combined 14 points in the last two games, they had a mental lapse that opened the door for York to get back in the contest in game two, something that has plagued the team at times this season.
“It was a passing breakdown for about three or four points in a row,” said Arseneau of a brief lapse that cost the Blues a tightly fought game two.
“It’s just those little breakdowns. We’ve got to eliminate those. That’s where we have to improve.”
With a veteran Queen’s team having home court advantage in the division final, the Blues will have to avoid any mental breakdowns to have a realistic chance at stealing a match on the road to win that series.
“The key is going to be winning the first game here,” said Stanko. “It’s difficult winning at Queen’s. They have a very raucous crowd. I know the last time we played there, the crowd certainly had an effect on our guys.”
Normally, home court advantage is not a decisive factor in OUA volleyball competition.
But as Binstock said, if there is one exception to that rule, this coming series. with a berth in the CIS championships on the line, might be it.
“We don’t mind playing in other gyms, but if we had to mind anything, Queen’s is pretty noisy.”
