Windsor drops thriller and rebounds in Waterloo

The Windsor Lancer men’s volleyball team returned to the hardwood for the first time in 2024 and travelled up the 401 to take on the Waterloo Warriors on Friday January 5th and Saturday January 6th in Waterloo at the University of Waterloo’s Physical Activities Complex (PAC). 
 
On Friday night the Lancers dropped a thrilling contest that went the distance to a two-point spread in the fifth set where Windsor fell to Waterloo 3-2 (22-25, 25-17, 27-29, 25-15, and 13-15). 
 
However, on Saturday evening despite falling in the first set to the black and gold hosts, the blue and gold managed to respond with a bounce back follow up revenge victory from behind on the same court they lost the night before with a convincing 3-1 (11-25, 25-20, 25-20, and 25-16) road win at the PAC splitting the weekend series and improving the 8th seeded U SPORTS nationally ranked squad to a 7-3 record on the 2023-24 campaign. 
 
FRIDAY STATS
Gustavo Siqueira led the charge for the Lancers offensively with 11 kills and a whopping 5.0 block total on the defense side that despite valiant efforts just fell short to the Warriors in the heartbreaking defeat.
 
Darian Koskie and Chase Bridges each plotted 9 kills of their own in the losing cause.  Bridges also recorded 3 service aces that fell on the Waterloo side of the court on thrice occasions uncontested. 
 
Markus Law-Heese wrapped up the first match on the weekend racking up 26 assists while on the defensive end Noah Koskie dug up 10 balls leading the way in digs for his team in the first match of the weekend in Waterloo. 
 
The Warriors were led by the offensive contributions of Liam MacArthur who propelled his team to victory with his game-high 18-kill performance which was too much for the Lancers to handle on Friday night’s loss.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED ON FRIDAY
Both teams kept a close range on one another in the first set trading points early on and not allowing one another to pull out with a large lead to kick off the match.
 
The Lancers would find themselves deadlocked at 22-22 late in the opening set but ultimately could not score anymore points in set one when Waterloo was able to score three unanswered points to pull away from the first set with a 1-0 match lead.
 
Windsor would come out with authority in the second set jumping out to an overwhelming 7-0 lead on Waterloo.  The Lancers would then cruise on throughout the second set not looking back nor letting up on the Warriors and were able to successful equalize the match at 1-1 with a 25-17 set two win.
 
The third set would begin with a balanced effort between both squads with each team earning points early and engaging in a tug of war looking to break open a larger lead.
 
Both teams met with a stalemate at 23-23 and found themselves needing to battle down the stretch for a two-point spread to round out the third set on top and take a 2-1 match lead. 
 
The teams swapped points and triggered extra points necessary to end the third and despite the Lancers having set point on a few occasions the Warriors were the ones who pulled ahead on top with a 29-27 victory in the third nabbing the set lead in the match.
 
Windsor would trail in the early stages of the fourth set before finding their groove again when Waterloo’s offense made a trio of attack errors.  The Lancers morale became boosted when they went on a run overturning the Warrior lead once intact and dissecting it to eventually sculpt their own lead. 
 
The blue and gold go on a tear towards the midway mark of the set and run away with the set coasting to a 25-15 fourth set victory sending the match to a fifth and final deciding set in the best of five affair which was tied at 2-2. 
 
In the fight to fifteen, the Lancers stayed within striking distance of the Warriors despite Waterloo holding the lead in the early part of the fifth set.  The Lancers would even the game at 7-7 before earning the eighth point needed for the side switch.  After switching sides Windsor found themselves halted with an 8-8 tie before Waterloo turned up the heat thriving off their home crowd’s energy and generating momentum with a 12-8 lead. 
 
A relentless and resilient Lancer brigade on the floor would not allow the Warriors to seal the deal just yet as they pushed Waterloo to the brink knotting the set up at 12-12 and then again at 13-13 making it a win-by-two scenario from here on out to finish off the Friday night thriller. 
 
In the end, the Warriors would earn match point with a 14-13 lead from a Lancer attack error before winning on a separate attack error 15-13 and 3-2 over the Lancers serving Windsor their third loss on the season.
 
SATURDAY STATS
Lancer captain Gustavo Siqueira again had the hot hand offensively with a spicy 15 kill game-high performance which led his team offensively and to a bounce back follow up victory over Waterloo.
 
Luca Nastase also had a hot night offensively with 9 kills of his own as well as a game leading high of 10 digs defensively helping contribute to the Lancers victory significantly. 
 
Markus Law-Heese dished out 33 assists in the win for Windsor and dug up 7 balls on defensive transitions. 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED ON SATURDAY
A not so hot start for the Lancers transpired in the first set where the blue and gold found themselves chasing the Warriors lead all throughout and struggled to find a chance to tie up the opening set dropping it 25-11 and going down 1-0 to Waterloo.
 
The Lancers would regroup in the second set earning the first and second points of the second and continued to build on the lead they acquired accumulating further points and not letting up on the Warriors.  Despite Waterloo getting within striking distance on a few occasions Windsor continued to apply point pressure and extend their lead ultimately riding to a 25-20 second set victory and responding to the disappointing first set with a 1-1 equalized match.
 
In the third, the Lancers were in for another battle with their Waterloo opponents who continued to fight back the Windsor wave of momentum that came their way on the scoreboard not allowing the blue and gold create too much space on the point spread.
 
Waterloo would continue to stay within reach but ultimately Windsor managed to extend their lead down the stretch and capitalize on some Warrior errors to allow the Lancers to take a 2-1 lead in the match with another 25-20 result in the third.
 
The fourth set was controlled by Windsor who kept up with their tremendous consistency and opened up a gap on the scoreboard which widened and bolstered down the stretch in favour of themselves against Waterloo.  In the end the Lancers managed to close out on top with a 25-16 fourth set win and 3-1 match victory improving their record on the campaign to 7-3 on the season.
 
UP NEXT
The Lancer men’s volleyball team are now off next weekend from league competition but will return to the Toldo Lancer Centre main court on Friday January 19th at 8:00pm for the first part of a two-day showdown with the Brock Badgers which will immediately follow up with a rematch taking place on Saturday January 20th at 6:00pm. 
 
Tickets are available at the TLC box office on game day or can be purchased in advance here at golancers.universitytickets.com.  The game will also be webcasted live on OUA.tv for fans to remotely take in the action from inside the TLC during all Lancer home game action throughout 2024!