The Brock Badgers men’s volleyball team hosted Trent Excalibur on Friday, Dec. 1 in front of a packed a crowd at Bob Davis Gymnasium where they won in four sets 3-1 (25-16, 20-25, 25-23, 25-20).
The Badgers were led by their formidable front row of Kylar Code, Devin Cooney and Jacob Ferland. Code racked up 19.5 points, consisting of 16 kills, two services aces and 1.5 blocks. Cooney dazzled the crowd with some huge spikes on his way to 18.5 points off 17 kills, one service ace and 0.5 blocks. Ferland had some big kills at important moments for the Badgers totalling 14.5 points with 10 kills, two service aces and 1.5 blocks.
The Badgers established an early lead in the first set and were able to feed off the momentum from an electric crowd, rolling to an opening set victory of 25-16.
Trent was able to flip the script in the second set putting a halt to Brock’s momentum and establishing a sizable early lead. Strong service play from the Excalibur allowed them to hold onto that lead and Trent took the second set 25-20.
In the third set, the teams began to go back-and-forth with each other and neither team could pull away or get on a roll. Code came through late in the set for the Badgers with two huge kills giving Brock a one-point lead. Cooney and Ferland then combined on a block to take the third set 25-23, giving the Badgers a 2-1 lead.
Trent was not going down without a fight and was battling hard to keep steady with the Badgers in the fourth. Junior outside hitter Kersey Robinson gave Brock the lead with a service ace midway through the set. Cooney followed that up with two emphatic spikes that got the crowd fired up and opened up a lead for the Badgers that they would not give up. Brock ended up taking the fourth set 25-20 to win the match.
Next up, the Badgers (5-2) will have a rematch with Trent Excalibur (0-7) in Bob Davis Gymnasium on Saturday, Dec. 2 with the game scheduled for 2 p.m.