Men’s Volleyball earns fourth straight victory with weekend sweep over Trent

The Lancer men’s volleyball team remain undefeated on the season, following a pair of sweeps over the visiting Trent Excalibur over the weekend at the Toldo Lancer Centre.

The blue and gold earned 3-0 (25-12, 25-15, 25-15) win on Saturday afternoon in three straight sets and followed that up with a 3-0 (25-13, 25-17, 25-14) win on Sunday.

SATURDAY
Zach Albert led the offensive side for the Lancers with 10 kills and 2 digs while Chase Bridges-Hunter also had a strong game, contributing 10 kills.

The visiting Excalibur’s Nic Badalato had a strong night with 10 kills and 2 digs.

GAME FLOW
The blue and gold came into the match full of energy as they looked to use their experience as an edge over the young Excalibur team. On the offensive attack, Luca Nastase made a strong kill to put the Lancers up 4-2 early in the set. From there, the Lancers took control of the game going on a 9-point run and forcing Trent to tighten up their defense. The Lancers made the long rally look easy with their ability to effective communicate with each other but the blue and gold worked hard to contain the Excalibur and after a massive kill by Chase Bridges-Hunter, they were able to pull away. The Lancers won the opening set 25-12.

Into the second set, the Lancers put in the work to establish their lead and continue to go on the attack as the Excalibur stayed on the defense. Despite the visitors being down in the game, they were able to grab a couple points from a few Windsor service errors. Windsor battled for a bigger lead after scrambling across the court and a dig by Zach Albert kept them moving in the right direction. The blue and gold came dominated to earn the win, 25-15.

The third set had the Lancer fans on the edge of their seats as the blue and gold looked to sweep the game in three sets. With the support of the fans, Windsor built a good lead off of a couple of service aces and attack errors. As Trent would attempt to close the gap, middle Julien Jouan came back with a kill to put the blue and gold were too far ahead for the Excalibur to put a mark in the court. Once again, the Lancers came out on top with a 25-15 win in the third set and a 3-0 victory.

SUNDAY
Windsor jumped out to an early lead in the first set making it a challenge for the Trent Excalibur to respond. A service error by the Excalibur would give the Lancers their first point while Stephen Kary made a huge block to pick up another point. Albert helped the blue and gold maintain the lead in the game with a couple kills down the line and shut down the Excalibur. As Trent remained unresponsive, the Excalibur knew they needed to carry out better strategies to combat the firing Lancers. Windsor finished off the set with a block by setter Markus Law-Heese and earned a 25-13 set win. 

The second set had the teams in a good back and forth contest to put the pressure on. Colin Hutchison made a tough opponent with some heavy swings on the right side. Although the visitors would push the blue and gold to work on the court, a couple of service errors would give Windsor some easy points. Siqueira showcased the Lancers strength with one last kill and picked up a 25-17 win in a tighter second set.

Trying to establish a lead, the Excalibur grabbed the first couple points of the set. The blue and gold displayed their strong mentality to fight for every play when Law-Heese scrambled for the ball and Logan Ondricko and first year outside hitter, Kaden Reid jumped in front of the Excalibur for a block to pick up a point. For match-point, Trent was unable to keep up with the Lancers and Windsor took the final set 25-14 and the match 3-0.

UP NEXT
The Lancers will host the TMU Bold on Sunday, November 20th at 4:00pm at the Toldo Lancer Centre. Tickets for the game can be purchased in advance at goLancers.ca/tickets, and can also be seen live at oua.tv.