Bold drop five set decision to Warriors

TORONTO – Deja vu reigned supreme in the Friday night affair between the Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold men’s volleyball squad and the visiting Waterloo Warriors, with the latter taking a five set win for the second consecutive outing against the blue and gold. 

Attacking errors costed the Bold in yet another pivotal fifth set of action earlier tonight as the group’s self-enduring wounds continued to fester against the Warriors. 

“Fifth sets have to be won at home,” said interim head coach of the Bold, Niko Rukavina. “It’s a little bit disappointing especially with the playoffs on the line,” he added. 

Mistakes on both ends of the ball plagued much of the first set for the Bold as the group struggled to find a steady tempo in their game. The home side committed five service errors and just as many attacking errors before dropping the match’s initial stanza. 

TMU’s problem-plagued narrative flipped on its head during the second set, however, as the group not only limited the mistakes themselves, but forced the Warriors into a dozen attacking errors and a negative hitting percentage as well. 

A pair of blocks from Alex King helped put the Bold in cruise control and take the set by nine points. The third-year continued to wreak havoc on the Warriors’ side of the court as the match leaked into its third setting, posting seven kills and yet another block to highlight the offence for TMU. 

“He’s just so dominant physically at the net,” said Rukavina. “He had an awesome game and it was impressive to see,” he added.

Despite the strong showing, Liam Macarthur and Ben Newell combined for twelve of the Warriors 15 kills, with the latter dicing up the Bold for a trio of service aces in their third set win. 

Second-year sensation Jacob Walker provided the Bold with a timely retaliation in the following set, throwing down four kills and a block to overhaul the offensive workload. Walker’s fellow sophomore Lucas Yang came off the bench and provided some offensive relief of his own, helping secure yet another nine-point victory for the Bold and force an extra frame. 

Despite the pushback, mistakes overcame the Bold yet again on both sides of the net and cost them a win for the second time in as many weeks. The Warriors would pick up the 15-12 set victory later in the frame and put a bow on their season sweep over the Toronto side.

TMU will be back in action this upcoming Sunday when they pay a visit to the Windsor Lancers. The team will be in need of an improved performance if they wish to close in on the OUA playoffs.