KINGSTON, ON—Given that Queen’s had four fifth-year players as the nucleus of their team while the Varsity Blues men’s volleyball team’s most significant contributors were third-year or younger players, it was hardly surprising to see the Golden Gaels win this season’s OUA East championship—what was somewhat surprising, however, was how hard they had to work to earn that title.
Having already won the best-of-three series opener at U of T’s Sports Gym, the Gaels took control of match number two a week ago Saturday night at Bartlett Gymnasium in Kingston, winning the first two games and then closing to within five points of clinching the series, leading 20-16 in game three. However, that was when things would start to become fun, as the Blues stormed back to steal that game 25-23 and keep the match alive.
It looked as though the momentum U of T built would be short-lived, though, when Queen’s quickly jumped ahead 4-0 in game four, but the Blues would once again claw back as the game turned into a nerve-wracking nip and tuck battle. Finally, after staving off two match points late in the game, a Marc Arseneau block would cash in a game point for U of T to force a fifth game, as the Blues took a wild fourth game 27-25.
With the Gaels and their fans clearly reeling, the Blues wasted little time in disposing of game five to complete an incredible comeback win (24-26, 19-25, 25-23, 27-25, 15-7) to force a third and final game the next night in Kingston.
One of the unlikely heroes of match two was rookie Nikola Vitas, who helped shut down Queen’s offensive star Jake Magolan after he had lit up the Blues in Toronto two days earlier. Vitas lived up to his nickname of “Big Sticks Nik,” blocking shot after shot and supplying powerful kills to carry U of T in the final two games of their come-from-behind triumph on the road.
“I need a couple of big plays to get me going,” said Vitas about his domination in the latter stages of the match after an ordinary first couple of games. “Then Chris (Pigott, U of T setter) gave me a couple of nice balls, I put them down and that started me going.”
Blues coach Orest Stanko thought his troops simply got on a roll and used that momentum effectively.
“The guys finally began to understand what adrenaline means. I think they finally began to understand how you can feed off that adrenaline and make big plays.”
With that dramatic road win under their belts, the Blues felt their history of success against Queen’s (the Blues had won six of the previous seven OUA titles) might prey on the minds of the Gaels and give U of T a shot at taking the series the next night.
Unfortunately for U of T, the one trend in the series that was most costly would do them in again, as in the third straight match, Queen’s would win a hotly contested opening game by a 27-25 count. Not only that, but in the first two matches controversial calls by referees would go against U of T to give Queen’s the early advantage.
“I think there was an official’s call at a very critical part in the [game] that was clearly the wrong call and at a minimum should have been a replay,” said Stanko of a call that cost his team the opening game of the series opener. “I mean, the fact that the official even hesitated and was uncertain and awarded the ball to Queen’s and it was the wrong call…he should at that point, given the critical juncture, have called a re-serve.”
Even after winning match two, Stanko was upset about what he perceived to be poor officiating that forced the Blues to dig their way out of a big early hole to rally for the victory.
“Much like we tell our players sometimes after a match they didn’t play very well, I think we should be prepared to tell the officials, ‘You didn’t have a very good match tonight,’” said Stanko after match two.
In the decisive match of the series, the Blues would recover from losing the opening to even up the match by winning game two 25-18, but then the wheels would come off. Erratic passing would prove costly as the Gaels took game three 25-13. U of T would compose themselves in game four, but Queen’s would prove too tough, taking the final game 25-22 to win the OUA East. The good news for the Blues is that their competitive showing should bode well for next season. While U of T lost three OUA all-stars to graduation from the previous season, including all-Canadian Mike Slean, next year Queen’s will face a similar challenge. The Gaels will lose four fifth-year standouts to graduation after this season, while the Blues will return their entire team intact. “I think it’s no secret that next year we’ll be the number one team and if that’s a preview, there it is,” said Arseneau, a first team OUA all-star this season.
