Bold fall to Gaels in battle of adjustments

TORONTO – For the second night in a row, the Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold took on the Queen’s Gaels at the Mattamy Athletic Centre (MAC), but on Saturday night they fell in straight sets.

Despite the loss, Bold head coach Dustin Reid commented post-game on how he was pleased with his team’s resolve throughout the match. 

“I’m super proud of the way we battled today. We had very few things go our way in the match,” said Reid. “Even though we played a good level through a lot of it, we had nothing to show for that.”

The two squads are coming off a fresh matchup on Friday, where the Bold were able to take the victory in a five-set thriller. Nonetheless, due to them facing off on back-to-back nights, certain adjustments were made.

“We certainly executed some things but they didn’t make a real impact on the match,” said Reid. “I thought we served well today, but whether they passed well or not, their offence didn’t stutter.” 

In tonight’s affair, the first set was back-and-forth as both teams consistently traded blows early. The Gaels began to pull away with the lead late in the frame — stretching it to five at 17-12, which forced TMU to call a timeout. 

After the huddle, the momentum was still in the Gaels favour as they made it 20-14. The Bold responded by cutting the lead to three, but they could not muster a comeback, eventually dropping the set 25-18. 

“Sometimes in that situation, when that’s happening, it’s easy to say ‘hey, it’s not our day,’ and kind of roll over, [but] we kept battling and we really stayed together as a team, which I think we can build on,” added Reid.

Queen’s had full control of the second set as they denied the Bold a run of points at every step. Shea Baker caught fire for the Gaels in the frame as she repeatedly set up her teammates while also blocking the Bold attack. 

“Our opponent played fantastic,” said Reid. 

Reid made some changes in the third set as he subbed in setter Alicia Lam to try and inject life into the Bold. The Oakville, Ont. native had previously been resting for the match. 

“When you’re down 2-0, you’re looking for a spark anywhere you can get it and we made a couple of changes there,” said Reid.

The adaptation worked for the Bold early in the set as they didn’t trail up until the Gaels took the lead at 16-15.  

“A lot of teams would probably throw in the towel because they were down two sets, but I think we’re special because we were able to come back and find that fighting fire within us,” said Bold libero Mary Rioflorido.

The visiting side then made their changes in response and rode a 7-0 run to extend their lead to 20-15. Shortly after, the Bold battled back with Julie Moore coming alive late to take the 22-21 lead. However, the Gaels countered offensively to wrap up the set with a 4-0 run. 

“We gave ourselves some chances to win the third set,” said Reid. “If there’s one disappointing thing today it’s that when we got in position we kind of waited for our opponent to give us some easy points and we didn’t finish the job.” 

“We have to give credit to Queen’s, they did a phenomenal job,” said Rioflorido. “That was probably one of the better games that they’ve had this season, but I’m still proud of us because we were able to compete together until the end.”

The Bold now prepare to take on the Guelph Gryphons in their last two games before the winter break. The first match is on Friday and is scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m. 

“I’m confident we’ll have a great week in training,” said Reid. “We play a tough opponent in Guelph that’s not an easy team to play against. Very different style than what we saw today, but they’re really important matches if we want to end the first half on a good note and we need to be ready.”