‘IT’S AMAZING’: LIONS RELISHING PLAYOFF RETURN TO TAIT

Five years.

That’s the last time the York University Lions men’s volleyball team hosted a playoff game at Tait McKenzie Centre. That day, the No. 4-seed Lions fell to the fifth-seeded Windsor Lancers in a tightly-contested affair in the OUA quarter-finals.

Eight years.

That’s the last time the Lions won a postseason game. It was an OUA bronze medal match win over those same Lancers, a five-set triumph which saw the Lions rally from two sets down to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Now, on a blustery Saturday in 2023, the Lions are back on home court – and back as the four seed – elated to see one of those long streaks coming to an end, and are just 75 points (or maybe 65) away from seeing the other one snapped with it.

“It’s amazing to finally be able to host a playoff game at Tait,” said interim head coach David Ta, who was on the York men’s volleyball staff as an assistant the last time the Lions played a home playoff game. “Having the home crowd on our side will be terrific, and hopefully will us to a win.”

Ta guided the Lions to their best season since 2016-17 when they went 15-3 and finished second in the OUA standings before being upset in the first round by Waterloo. Coming off just two wins a season ago in the COVID-shortened campaign, the Lions were far and the most improved team in the OUA.

“This regular season was a time of growing and piecing together a chemistry and culture for this program,” Ta said. “The experiences from last year gave us the experience needed for improvement this year.”

The Lions, as mentioned, are the four-seed in the OUA playoffs. However, they had a great chance to finish third or even second. A Toronto loss to flu-ridden McMaster on Sunday would have clinched third for York. They were also a match point out of second. The Lions nearly pulled off an epic five-set comeback Friday night against Windsor – reminiscent of that 2015 bronze medal game – while beating them handily in four sets on Saturday night in their season finale. Had they completed the comeback the night prior, York would have finished in a tie with Windsor at 14-6 and clinched second thanks to sweeping their head-to-head matchups. 

“It’s frustrating knowing that we did everything that we could control on our end,” Ta admitted. “But in the end it was out of our hands.”

So, rather than a matchup with Nipissing or TMU, the Lions draw the Queen’s Gaels in the opening round. The Lions swept the season series against Queen’s, with both victories coming in straight sets. That statline is a not-insignificant misnomer when you dissect game flow, however. Four of the six sets played between the Lions and Gaels this season were decided by the minimum two points. That includes all three of the first game of the weekend back-to-back in early January.

Leading the way for the Lions will be the lone departure from this year’s team, Andrew Tauhid. The fifth-year outside hitter led the Lions in kills with 249, which placed him fourth in the province. The other key cog is Josh Fadare, who combined for 26 kills in his return to the lineup due to injury after missing six of the previous seven matches due to injury. Fadare finished second on the team in kills (200) and fourth in the conference in kills per set (4.00). York will be without one of its top two-way players in Luke de Greeff, who was stretchered off the floor in the loss to Windsor with an apparent knee injury.

Despite the loss of de Greeff, with Fadare back, Tauhid at the top of his game, and the late-season emergence of Shaun Schonert as a depth piece offensively, Ta is extremely confident in his bunch heading into Saturday. However, he also knows the game will be very tightly-contested and come down to execution at critical times.

“The matchup with Queens will be a competitive one,” he said. “Both teams were working through some kinks and I am sure have gotten better since that last matchup. 

“Our disciplined net play will be what’s needed to beat a well-coached and competitive Queens team.”

The opening serve goes up at 4:00 pm on Saturday from Tait McKenzie Centre.