TORONTO – The Rams men’s volleyball team battled it out on home court against the No. 5 Blues but failed to find a win as they fell 3-2 (32-30, 16-25, 25-19, 19-25, 11-15) on Saturday night.
Blues outside hitter Mitchell Neuert led all attackers with 24 kills on the night, with Rams rookie Kai Higuchi leading the Rams with 13 kills in an impressive all-around showing.
“He was definitely the MVP of the game tonight,” said Rams interim head coach Niko Rukavina on Higuchi.
Higuchi was filling the role of Rams leading attacker Jacob Walker who was unavailable this weekend, and Rukavina commented on the opportunity, saying, “He really stepped up to the opportunity and I’m really happy with the way he played. The sky’s the ceiling for him.”
The opening set was one that the Blues took charge of early, leading 8-2 as they capitalized on Rams errors. The Rams fought back as they always do however, and found their first tied score at 25-25.
The Rams and Blues played a thrilling end of set, and thanks to huge blocks from setter Saad Shaikh and middle blocker Omari Young, they were able to take the lead and secure the first set 32-30.
With more errors than kills in the first set, the Blues drastically improved their attack in the second, tallying nine kills to the Rams’ four as they led 16-11 at the technical timeout.
The Rams failed to create another kill for the remainder of the set, much to the defensive strength of the Blues and their pressure on the attack. Toronto ran away with the second, tying the game up and winning the set 25-16.
The blue and gold came back firing in the third set, taking an early lead and holding it all the way to their 25-19 set win to go up 2-1.
Along with a series of offensive streaks catalyzed by Lucas Yang and Young on the outsides, the Blues did not help themselves with eight attack errors.
In typical Rams vs. Blues fashion, the team trailing was not ready to give in just yet, as the Blues answered back with 13 kills to take the fourth set 25-19 and send the game to a fifth set.
Rams middle blocker Alex King had a strong showing in the set and had the only solo block of the fourth.
In the fifth and final set, the Blues showed their composure and closed out the match with a 15-11 set win to steal the match on the road.
Despite the heartbreaking loss, Rukavina expressed his pride with his young squad, saying, “A young team like we are, to be able to come in against one of the top teams in the league and dominate in a few sets in the way we did, it just means the world for us in the future and our development.”
With a bye week this coming week, the Rams have earned a well-deserved break and will take on the Trent Excalibur on home court Wednesday, March 2, at 8 p.m.
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