On Sunday, Jan. 7, the Brock Badgers men’s volleyball team continued their undefeated start to 2024, besting the RMC Paladins in three sets (25-21, 25-18, 25-18) at Bob Davis Gymnasium.
Leading the way for the Badgers were outside hitters Devin Cooney and Kylar Code, who both had nine kills. Code added a service ace and 0.5 blocks to finish with a game-high 10.5 points. Veteran setter Grant Reddon facilitated the offence with 26 assists.
The first set was plagued with service errors, as Brock had eight, while RMC gave up 12. The Paladins went up 12-11, prompting a timeout from the Badgers. RMC kept the momentum going, holding a lead as late as 19-18. After a kill by sophomore Liam Strong, senior outside hitter Nanle Yusuf went behind the service line and delivered two aces to help Brock take a two-point lead. The Badgers used this energy to hold on for the 25-21 first set win.
The two teams traded points early until Brock used back-to-back kills from Cooney and Jacob Ferland to take a 12-8 lead. The Badgers’ cushion continued to grow as they used the outside pins to great success; 11 of their 14 kills in the set came from their outside hitters. Yusef came off the bench once again to notch his third ace of the day as the Badgers won the set 25-18.
In the third, a couple of errors from Brock gave RMC a slim lead at 6-4. The Badgers responded to the deficit by going on a run of their own, prompting an RMC timeout with the lead at 12-9. More service errors found their way in the third set as Brock and RMC equalled their number of errors from the first. The Badgers held their opponent to a mere two kills in the set as they completed the weekend sweep.
Up next, Brock (8-2) is on the road on Friday, Jan. 12 as they take on the Nipissing Lakers (2-8) at 8 p.m. The game can be viewed on OUA.tv.