The Lancer men’s volleyball team opened up the long-awaited regular season against the McMaster Marauders Saturday afternoon at the St. Denis Centre. The blue and gold returned to a warm reception of fans, alumni, and students but dropped a close 3-2 (20-25, 25-19, 25-21, 23-25, 7-15) game to the Marauders.
STATS Luca Nastase led the Lancers with 12 kills, while senior veteran Sean Spencer had 10. The Lancers had a total of 14.5 team blocks, with Dami Alalade leading the way defensively with seven.
GAME FLOW
In the first set, fans got to see a tight, back and forth affair between the Lancers and Marauders. After going down early, the Lancers regained their ground and forced the Marauders to take a timeout while down 9-6. After the timeout, the Marauders went on an 8-2 run leading to a the blue and gold taking their own break. Despite the regroup, the Lancers comeback attempt fell short, as the Marauders took the first set 25-20.
The Lancers came into the second set red hot, with a block that had the St. Denis Centre standing on their feet. This momentum would lead the Lancers to create a 6-2 lead and forcing the Marauders to take a timeout. However, unlike the first set, this timeout was unable to stop the fire that the Lancers were playing with. Zach Admans and Spencer continued to set a tone with a spike that rattled the Marauders. McMaster, however, started to close the gap, making it a 4 point game midway through the set. Windosr, however, had other ideas as they continued to widen their lead. The Lancers would win the set 25-19.
The third set started with the Marauders going up early and forcing the Lancers to take a timeout, down 14-9. After the timeout, Windsor even the score 20-20, before taking a one-point lead that led to a timeout by the Marauders. The Lancers would complete their comeback by winning the third set 25-21.
With Windsor 6-4 in the fourth set, a lengthy delay led the match to becoming an evenly matched affair. With the game tied at 11, McMaster would gain a lead and built a 22-18 lead that would eventually lead to a 25-23 win for the visitors.
The fifth and final set was one that started off slowly for the Lancers as they went down 4-0 before a timeout was called. Windsor was never able to get ahead and the Marauders took the set and game with a 15-7 score.
UP NEXT
Windsor will head up to Waterloo to take on the Warriors at 8:00pm on Friday November 12th. Stay tuned to @WindsorLancers for updates throughout the game.