On Friday night (Oct. 25) in a thrilling match at the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport, the University of Toronto Varsity Blues men’s volleyball team clinched a 3-1 victory over the defending OUA champion McMaster Marauders.
Set scores in the match were 25-23, 19-25, 25-21, 25-19.
After the Blues and Marauders exchanged the first two sets, Toronto regrouped and surged back in the third, with outside hitter Jayden Talsma leading the way and contributing crucial kills. Talsma’s efforts, combined with setter Michael Hickey’s impressive 39 assists, helped Toronto regain momentum.
The fourth set saw Toronto playing at peak efficiency, with Hunter Arulpragasam dominating the attack, ending the night with a match-high 14 kills. First-year middle Luka Minic contributed with a stellar .533 hitting percentage, along with two solo blocks and three block assists. Iannis Toma and Talsma led the Blues defensively with 13 and 12 digs, respectively.
McMaster had three players reach double-digit points in the loss, led by 11.5 points from Jared Kuiken, registering five kills, one ace, five solo blocks, and one assisted block. Setter Robbie Fujisawa finished the night with 36 assists, while Matthew Rugosi put in plenty of work defensively with a game-high 21 digs.
U of T and McMaster will be right back at it as the complete the weekend series tomorrow (Oct. 26) afternoon at Goldring Centre. First serve is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tickets for the Blues home game can be purchased at varsityblues.ca/tickets, while the match will also be streamed on oua.tv.
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