Lancers splits weekend series with Badgers

 
The Windsor Lancers men’s volleyball team kept their undefeated record alive on Friday night with a 3-1 (19-25, 25-19, 25-20, and 25-13) comeback victory over the Brock Badgers at the Bob Davis Gymnasium in St. Catharines. 
 
The Badgers took the opening set over the Lancers 25-19 but ultimately it was the Lancers who would emerge victorious in the match overcoming the adversity in their first road game of the season to take the second (25-19), third (25-20), and fourth (25-13) sets respectively over the Badgers. 
 
Luca Natase was a monster offensively for the blue and gold leading the way with 19 kills on the night while his teammate Zach Albert had 14 kills and veteran setter Anthony DeGirolamo had 38 assists in the victory. 
 
Defense was equally as important as offense in the comeback win as Anthony Ivanovski had a well-rounded game both at the net with 5 blocks and from the service line with 2 serving aces while also Lancer libero Samuel McKeague had 10 digs against the relentless Badger offense. 
 
The Badgers were led by their setter Grant Reddon who had an impressive all-around game in every area of the stats sheet despite the tough loss to the Lancers on home turf
 
However, on Saturday night, the Brock Badgers would hand the Lancers their first regular season loss on the year in a dramatic 3-1 thriller in front of their home crowd.  In reverse fashion from the night before, the Lancers took the first set 25-22 before dropping the next three to the Badgers with Brock taking the second and fourth sets narrowly 25-23 and the third set 25-18. 
 
Albert led the Lancers on Saturday with 19 kills, 2 service aces, and 5 digs in the loss while Ivanovski again had a solid performance chipping in with 5 kills of his own and 4 blocks up at the net.  DeGirolamo had 33 assists in the upset defeat. 
 
Brock was led by Kylar Code who had 20 kills in the match while Devon Cooney and Sauli Lianga each scored 15 kills to power the Badgers over the Lancers in the rematch affair.
 
 
FRIDAY
In the first set the Lancers struggled to find their groove as they seemed a little out of their element having endured their first game outside of their new home gym the Toldo Lancer Centre.  Having made the trip to Brock to play at the Bob Davis Gymnasium that boasted a great crowd on hand, the Lancers seemed to have trouble playing within the court with an abundance of attacking errors which worked against them.  Brock was able to ride the thunderous momentum generated from the Lancer mistakes and the home crowd cheered them on throughout to allow them that necessary energy to close out the first set with a 25-19 win.
 
The Lancers being a resilient bunch they are this season shook off the first set loss as they approached the second set with a bit more of a refined edge to their play.  Although both squads traded points early on the Lancers would ultimately hold control throughout and runaway with the set after DeGirolamo was able to get the offence firing on all cylinders and shots were working well within the court which earned the Lancers a 25-19 win to knot the match up at 1-1.
 
The third and fourth sets showcased more of the Lancers brilliance and resilience as they continued to climb the mountain needed to take their first road of the season and they were able to remain firmly in control throughout the third set despite forfeiting points on high-risk/high reward serves and attacks.  A young Brock team put up a great performance to counter the experienced Lancers squad however in the end it was simply not enough to get the job done as the Lancers propelled their way to victory in convincing fashion down the stretch. 
 
SATURDAY
The Lancers did an excellent job in the first set of matching their consistent intense play from the night before making sure they tamed the Badgers throughout while their raucous crowd on hand roared once again in the Badgers Den.  Ultimately steady play by the blue and gold allowed them to maintain a slim lead, but Brock remained on Windsor’s heels including knotting up the game at 22-22 later in the set.  In the end though, Joshua Timukas’ ace serve would cap off the first set 25-22 for the Lancers.
 
In the second set, the Badgers rallied on their competitive play from before in what seemed like the Lancers emulating what they had been doing in the first set this time Brock managed to flip the script.  Once again finding the scoreboard tied at 22-22 both teams traded points down the stretch which then turned into a 23-23 tie and eventually the Badgers would be the ones to find the two-point spread needed to win the second set and tie the match up at 1-1.
 
The third set seemed to favour the Badgers all throughout as Windsor perhaps might have run out of steam at that point with Brock’s young core starting to click on their home floor.  Brock never sacrificed a lead and went on to win the third set 25-18 which was a major momentum booster for them heading into the fourth set.
 
In the fourth set, reminiscent of the second set, the Lancers started off with the early lead but the Badgers were able to stay within striking distance throughout.  Towards the midway mark of the set, Brock equalized the game on a couple of occasions forcing the Lancers to have to elevate their play if they wanted to trigger a potential fifth set.  However, once the scoreboard hit the 20-20 mark, the Badgers did not look back and elevated their play riding the wave off their home gym’s energy and taking down the undefeated Lancers in dramatic fashion 25-23 to take the Saturday night victory. 
 
The loss changes the Lancers season record to 6-1 on the campaign.  Despite the loss, the Lancers fought hard throughout the weekend in St. Catharines going 4-4 on the weekend splitting the 8 sets that they faced the Badgers at the Bob Davis Gymnasium.  
 
UP NEXT
The Lancers have now wrapped up the 2022 portion of the 2022-23 OUA regular season and currently sit second in the league rankings heading into the winter break.  They will return to action in the new year when they go to Kingston to visit the RMC Paladins for a weekend doubleheader on January 6th and January 7, 2023.  The Windsor Lancers would like to wish the men’s volleyball team all the best with their final fall exams and extend a message to all of our Lancer Family, have a safe and happy holiday season, and see you in the new year!