HAMILTON, Ont. – The TMU men’s volleyball team fell 3-0 to McMaster on Saturday afternoon. The loss moves the Bold to 2-5 on the season, good for 9th place in the OUA as they enter the winter break.
The Bold entered the contest coming off back-to-back wins at the hands of RMC, however, they struggled out of the gate against McMaster. Unforced errors saw McMaster build a 10-6 lead in the match’s early stages, with service errors gifting the Marauders points. McMaster carried this lead throughout the first set, as TMU was unable to turn things around, falling by a score of 25-12 in the first frame.
The struggles continued for the Bold in the second set, as McMaster’s hitters excelled against the TMU defence. McMaster also excelled at digging out TMU’s kill attempts, limiting the normally dangerous Alex King. Despite the Bold’s struggles however, they remained competitive through the first half of the second set, trailing 10-8. However, in the latter stages of the second set McMaster began pulling away, quickly racking up points on the Bold. The Bold would see contributions from Lucas Yang and Evan Moua but the hard-hitting Marauders ultimately took the set 25-16.
TMU opened the third set with four straight points, helping shift momentum early on. Day Westell had a big block and serve to help build the Bold lead as they looked to extend the match. The Bold continued their strong net play, with blocks by Bobby Tang and Kai Higuchi keeping pressure on the Marauders.
Following a McMaster timeout, the Marauders took control of the third set eventually grabbing the lead at 18-17. The Bold kept fighting, forcing long rallies as they looked to get back into the contest. Even so, McMaster was efficient from the service line putting TMU on the run and against the ropes. Down 24-17, facing match point, Riley Donovan had an impressive block to keep the game alive. An error on the subsequent serve gave McMaster the win however, cementing the Bold’s straight sets loss.
The Bold are back in action after the break on January 5 against Western as they look to get back on track and make a bid for the playoffs.
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