Bold fall to Lions in back and forth five set marathon

TORONTO — The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold men’s volleyball team’s five-game winning streak came to an end on Friday night, as they fell to the York Lions 3-1 (22-25, 25-15, 22-25, 27-25, 11-15) at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.

“Overall it was a really good fight,” said third-year Alex King, who had a team-high 24 kills on the night.

King helped orchestrate a comeback in the fourth set for the Bold. Facing match point and trailing 24-23, TMU rallied off four of the next five points to send the match the distance.

Ultimately, York prevailed in the final frame — a set they controlled from the get go, thanks to an early 8-5 lead, largely thanks to four TMU service errors.

“I thought we had an opportunity there to win in the fourth set,” said Bold head coach Niko Rukavina, who made note of the service struggles in the fifth. “You’re just not going to win when you’re playing like that.”

“You’ve got to put the ball in and make them play,” said King.

Despite pushing it to five, the Bold had an opportunity to pick up a win against one of the OUA’s best slip through their grasps. York moved to 7-3 with the win, which means their .700 winning percentage is good for fifth in the conference.

TMU, who fell to 5-7 with the defeat, dropped their first game at home since Nov. 18, 2022 with the loss. The defeat only marked the program’s second loss in the last 11 games against York, who had lost nine-straight games at the Mattamy Athletic Centre prior to Friday night’s win.

“Honestly, I think we’re right there,” said King. To beat those top teams you’ve got to execute at high pressure situations. We do that to a certain extent right now, but not as well as we should.”

“It’s definitely frustrating. That’s a team that can be beat. I think if we played a little bit better, that could be an easy game for us,” said Rukavina.

“You’ve got to take care of these games, especially against a Toronto rival like that — they’re going to come in a little fired up.”

On top of his 24 kills, King chipped in four digs. His .688 hitting percentage helped him earn praise post-game from his coach, who said he had an “awesome game.” 

Jacob Walker was the only other member of the team with double-digit kills, tallying 15. Saad Shaikh had 46 assists. Omari Young had four solo blocks and two service aces, which were both team highs. 

Josh Fadare had a game-high 25 kills for the Lions, before leaving the game with an injury in the fourth set. 

“Tough when you see a player go down like that. He’s a really good player,” said Rukavina. “That was one of the quietest gyms I’ve heard after an injury. It was pretty quiet here. But hopefully, he’s doing well.”

Friday was the debut of TMU’s new jersey’s, which they officially unveiled in the team’s first home of the 2023 calendar year.

“First game in our new drip in our home gym — it was fun to be back from Christmas break,” said King. “I think there were almost times of over-excitement that really messed with us, but I liked the compete. I think all of the boys really stood their ground whenever they needed to.”

The Bold will look for the sweep tomorrow night, when they’ll take on the Lions for the second time in as many nights. 

“It’s nice to have a back-to-back so we can go out there again tomorrow and hopefully get a split,” said Rukavina.

First serve is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.