Playoff volleyball returned to the Tait McKenzie Centre on Friday night as the No. 4-seed York University Lions men’s team hosted the No. 5-seed Nipissing Lakers in the OUA quarterfinals.
The 15-5 Lions and 12-8 Lakers met twice earlier in the season, with the teams splitting a two-game series in North Bay in the middle of November. After the Lions took the opener in five to move to 7-0, Nipissing rebounded and earned a four-set victory to end York’s perfect season.
Now, some three months later, the teams met again – this time with a whole lot more on the line.
The first set went perhaps as expected, with the teams trading blows early. The Lakers grabbed an 11-7 lead, before a 3-0 run from the service line from Chris Hoffman tied things at 11. Neither team led by more than two until late in the set, as it was punch–counterpunch throughout the opening frame. The Lakers took leads of 23-21 and 24-22, appearing on the verge of grabbing the advantage. However, a Benjamin Franz service error followed by an Alex Ko ace tied it at 24. After the Lakers scored to go up a point, the Lions scored the next three on an kill by Alex Dorling, a Laker attack error and, on set point, a Dorling ace. That put York up 1-0 in front of a raucous crowd inside Tait.
The second set saw the Lions get out to a 3-1 lead before Nipissing scored six of the next nine to jump ahead 7-6. Like the first, the Lakers got to 11 points first, this time leading 11-8, and, like the first, the Lions clawed back to eventually tie it at 12. They took the lead 18-16, before the Lakers punched back to square things at 19. A Ko kill, one of his eight in the set, gave the Lions back the lead, and they never looked back from there. The set-sealing point was a kill from the rookie star Hoffman, putting the second set to bed, 25-21, and putting the Lakers on life support.
Nipissing scored the first two points of the third, before York posted seven of the next 10 to go up 7-5. Ko continued his game-changing play on the outside, both at and away from the net. Back-to-back kills from the third-year made it 5-4 Lions, but the visitors hung around and eventually took a 13-11 lead on a Franz kill, forcing Jordan Taylor into a timeout. Whatever he said over that 60 seconds worked, as York roared out of the break with four straight points to go up a pair. The Lions seized momentum from there, ending the game on a 14-6 run to win the third 25-19 and dispatch the Lakers in straight sets.
Ko was the best player on the court in this one, with 15 kills on just 23 total attacks and only three errors, for a robust .522 hitting percentage. That, while also leading the team in digs with nine and sharing the lead in aces with two alongside Jasraj Nijjar. Nijjar was his usual self from the setter spot, putting up 25 assists on 35 Lions kills.
LOOKING AHEAD:
The Lions will travel to Windsor next Friday night for the OUA semi-final. Should they topple the OUA’s top team, they will advance to their first OUA championship since 2004-05, when they beat the Western Mustangs 2-1 in what was then a best-of-three series. Stay tuned to yorkulions.ca for more information on game time.
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