With the first- and second-best teams in the league on tap, Men’s Volleyball (9-6) will try to build off the momentum they garnered from two wins this weekend.
Over the season, the Blues have shown glimpses of their talent, as 3-0 victories over previously undefeated Ryerson (13-3) and York (11-5) can attest. But maintaining that level of effort has been an issue for U of T. Even so, coach Jeff Chung believes in his team.
“It’s not like we don’t have the tools to be there,” Chung said. “It’s just a matter of bringing the tools everyday. We’re a young team, we’re a good team, we just have to be more consistent. That’s always the big word in any high-performance sport: consistency.”
U of T will test their chutzpah this weekend as they travel to Ryerson on Friday and York on Saturday. Both teams head the Ontario University Athletic East division with 26 and 22 points, respectively. Ryerson is also ranked ninth in Canadian Interuniversity Sport national rankings.
Before facing the cream of the crop, the Blues welcomed two of the bottom-feeders from the OUA this past weekend, defeating Laurier 3-1 Sunday after dispatching Waterloo 3-0 Saturday.
Hosting Laurier, U of T had to battle against the Golden Hawk’s twin towers of Jean-Paul Wikerd and Jesse Freeston, who placed tremendous pressure on the Blues defense early on.
“They were very difficult to defend,” Chung said, commenting on Wikerd and Freeston. “They were hitting shots that were unexpected and that you don’t really practice for. We knew that they were gonna get a lot of action, but I think our guys did well early in the match containing them.”
The Blues took the first set 25-19, but Laurier, behind 21 match kills from Wilkerd, took the second 25-23. The last two sets were tightly fought (29-27 and 26-24) but the Blues gutted out the victory by bringing what right hitter Brendan Peel called “a better overall team effort.”
To counter Laurier’s go-to-guys, other players from the Blues were asked to step up, and they did. In addition to Peel, who finished with 29 kills, setter James Mackay was in on almost every play and had a great game, finishing with a stats line of 48 assists, eight digs, and six crucial service aces.
In the weekend’s first game, U of T took it to a sloppy Waterloo team, beating them in straight sets (25-13, 25-17, 27-25). The Blues set the tone early, capitalizing on Warriors mistakes to take huge leads in the first two sets. Unable to get their attack going early on, Waterloo had difficulty keeping the ball in the middle of the court and, more often than not, failed to get the ball to their setters, stagnating the offense.
By the third set, Waterloo finally seemed to wake up, taking a 10-4 lead early in the frame thanks to several hustle plays on digs on the defensive side. Yet hustle alone could not overcome their own offensive inefficiency and poor execution. The Warriors’ abysmal performance is best summed up by their attack percentage-a paltry 0.644 compared to the Blues 1.830.
The Blues were more cohesive on the attack, led by the stellar play of Canadian Junior team member Steven Kung and fifth-year Peel. The pair smashed a combined 19 kills on the Warriors.
Not lost in the game was the emergence of young Blues athletes, a strong sign of a team finally starting to gel. Elder statesman Peel cited leftside hitter Marko Balan and Mackay as key contributors to the win.
“They both really stepped up and brought energy to the team,” Peel said.
Last weekend U of T did not fare as well, dropping a pair at home to start the new year. Windsor defeated the Blues 3-1 Jan. 13 before Western posted another 3-1 loss on the Blues last Saturday.
