Men’s Volleyball sweeps TMU in Toronto

The defending OUA silver medalist Windsor Lancer men’s volleyball team were back in action for the first time this season kicking off the 2023-24 OUA regular season on the road in a pair of matches against the TMU Bold in Toronto this past weekend. 
 
On Saturday afternoon the Lancers took down the Bold in a five-set thriller inside the Mattamy Athletic Centre by a score of 3-2 (25-17, 16-25, 21-25, 25-19, and 15-7). 
 
Meanwhile on Sunday afternoon the Lancers returned the court for a rematch with the Bold where they managed to defeat them in one less set this time around with a humble and hard fought 3-1 (25-16, 25-23, 23-25, and 25-22) win over TMU to improve to 2-0 on the year to date. 
 
SATURDAY STATS
Gustavo Siqueira led the way offensively with 15 kills on Saturday while Anthony Ivanovski chipped in with 11 kills of his own to add to the blazing Lancer offense in the win. 
 
Darian Koskie also found the TMU side of the court’s floor on multiple occasions including racking up 10 kills of his own and leading the way with 4 service aces which all mightily contributed to the Lancer victory. 
 
Markus Law-Heese also stayed busy throughout the contest accumulating 47 assists in the victory making sure his team’s offense way firing on all cylinders throughout the match containing extra sets. 
 
SUNDAY STATS
Siqueira outdid his Saturday performance with a season-high of 21 kills in the four-set win while Darian Koskie and Luca Nastase each had 8 kills of their own in the victory.
 
Law-Heese dished out 39 assists in the win and passed up 6 digs while Quintin Greenridge led the way defensively with 9 digs for the blue and gold. 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED ON SATURDAY
The Lancers maintained steady consistent play in the first set managing to come out ahead early in the set and not look back.  The team was able to buckle down and focus on execution which led them to stay in control throughout the set despite TMU coming within striking distance on a couple of occasions. Ultimately the Lancers would close out the first set on top with a 25-17 score to go up 1-0 in the match.
 
In the second set, TMU responded by starting to control the pace of play which allowed them to come out with a lead early in the set.  The Bold started to run away with the set towards the midway mark when they doubled up the score with a 16-8 lead on the Lancers by then.  It got as high as a nine-point deficit for the Lancers before being able to respond to the TMU midway mark run which was offensively being perpetrated by their standout outside hitter Alex King.  In the later stages of the second set the Bold would then increase their margin to a ten-point gap on the blue and gold before going on to close out the second set on top 25-16 and tying up the match at 1-1. 
 
The third set saw back and forth volleyball action again from both teams throughout the duration of the set.  Each side remained eager to compete and the flow of the set was based upon traded points all throughout with neither team able to generate anything more than a four-point lead which TMU held at 23-19 after a teeter totter set of points being exchanged on both ends.  However, TMU would break the bond in the late portion of the set and close out with a four-point spread down the stretch with a 25-21 third set victory to go up 2-1 in the match on the Lancers.
 
Windsor would look to respond in the fourth set determined not to fall to the Bold after making the nearly 4-hour trek to Toronto for the weekend and wanting to defend their leaguewide honour as 2023 OUA silver medalists.  The Lancers carried out the fourth set with motivation and captivated a newfound spirit which allowed them to battle back into the contest and claim momentum despite being down in the early part of the fourth.  Once the Lancers broke the tie at 8-8, the Lancers would then not let up and continued to thrive throughout the set building upon their 9-8 lead which they did not trail after that lead was conquered.  The blue and gold would rally to a 25-19 victory in the fourth set tying the match up at 2-2 and triggering a fifth and final deciding set in front of a raucous road crowd.
 
It was all Lancers in the fifth set who managed to grab hold of the lead early once again in the set which is only played to 15 points, after being deadlocked at 4-4.  Once the Lancers earned their 5-4 lead, they were able to propel to victory after the side switch point at 8-4 and kept the same energy up on the other side of the court where they emerged victorious with a 15-7 fifth set victory from Siqueira’s match winning kill. 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED ON SUNDAY
The Lancers came out of the gate hungry in the first opening the scoring and maintain a steady lead throughout.  The Lancers did not allow TMU to generate any offensive momentum through the early, middle, and late stages of the set which allowed them to coast to a 25-16 first set win and go up 1-0 in the match.
 
The second set saw a little more of an even tilt with the Bold looking to start creating chances to give them a shot of getting back into this game.  Early in the set, both sides traded points making it a battle and challenge to make it more than a one-point game.  That was true until the Lancers started picking up their play again and breaking away from the even scores but TMU would battle back and overtake the Lancer lead at 15-14 TMU causing Windsor to regroup.  The Lancers would indeed regroup and not allow TMU to scrappily get back into the set.  In a nailbiter, the Lancers were able to make it out of the second set alive with a 25-23 victory to go up 2-0 in the match.
 
The Bold did not want to fall to the blue and gold in three straight sets after coming off a five-set thriller the day before.  Despite Windsor opening up a large margin of 18-11, TMU was able to boldly battle back with offensive swagger coming up from Kai Higuchi of TMU who led his team back into the set and tied the game at 18-18.   The Lancers would try to finish the Bold in straight sets, but TMU would not go down without a fight instead choosing to fight to the finish and earn a third set victory of 25-23 and forcing a fourth set with a Lancer defeat in the fourth but lead in the match of 2-1. 
 
Despite the Bold overcoming the odds and battling through the adversity of the third set, the Lancers decided to up their play in the fourth and ensure they would not need to play an additional set to decide this contest.  The Lancers stayed the course with steady consistent play which allowed them to generate a stable lead that was never forfeited in the set and they held on to claim a 25-22 fourth set victory and 3-1 win over TMU to improve to 2-0 on the young season.
 
UP NEXT
The Lancers will now travel back home and prepare for their upcoming home opener matches with the McMaster Marauders which are slated for Friday November 17th at 8:00pm and Saturday November 18th at 6:00pm at the Toldo Lancer Centre.
 
Fans can purchase tickets in advance for either or both events here online at goLancers.ca/tickets or purchase them in-person at the TLC box office gate on gameday.  For fans who cannot be in attendance inside the TLC, the game will be live streamed on OUA.tv from inside the venue and follow our official Windsor Lancer social media accounts including our X (formerly Twitter) account for live in-game updates which will be provided on gameday.