The York University Lions men’s volleyball team is among the best in the nation.
The team was ranked 10th in the latest U SPORTS men’s volleyball rankings, released Monday by the U SPORTS office. The Lions carry an ELO rating of 1543.112, while also receiving 43 top 10 votes in the weekly U SPORTS coaches’ poll.
This is the first time the Lions have been nationally ranked since the week of Feb. 26-Mar. 5, 2023, when they were also ranked 10th after their OUA quarter-final win over the Queen’s Gaels. However, the Lions have not been a ranked team during regular season play since the week of Oct. 26-Nov. 1, 2015.
Lions head coach Jordan Taylor says while being nationally ranked for the first time during the regular season in nearly a decade is a positive, the program has bigger goals in mind.
“As nice as the national recognition is, we don’t play for rankings, so in our locker room internally, it doesn’t mean much. All we care about is pushing ourselves every day in training to be a better version of ourselves than we were the day before, and our group puts in a ton of work to help push our program to new heights,” he said. “We have some lofty goals this season, but national rankings aren’t one of them.
“That said, I am happy for the players that they are getting noticed for all their hard work,” Taylor continued. “Hopefully this helps galvanize our campus & student body, and we can use this as momentum to create an exciting atmosphere at the Tait McKenzie Centre, where everyone at York feels a part of our journey.
“This will no doubt put a target on our back, but we are up for the challenge & will lean heavily on our strong culture and campus support down the stretch.”
Despite a tough loss to the Nipissing Lakers on Saturday, the Lions sit at 7-1 and tied for first place in the OUA. They sit in a three-way tie for the top spot with the Windsor Lancers, and, as fate would have it, the Queen’s Gaels.
Queen’s will visit the Tait McKenzie Centre this weekend for a pair of matches. First serve Friday will fly at 8:00 pm, with Saturday’s match starting at 6:00 pm. Saturday’s match is the Lions Dig for the Cure game, as well as the 20th anniversary celebration of York’s 2004-05 OUA championship team. You can get your tickets to both this weekend’s matches by clicking here.
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