The York University Lions men’s volleyball team travelled down the 401 West to Windsor on Friday night for the OUA semi-final against the OUA’s number one seed, the 18-2 Windsor Lancers.
A win for York would advance them to their first OUA championship in 20 years, while a loss would mean the end of their conference title hopes, but not their season. With three berths up for grabs at the U SPORTS championships, a loss would send York to the OUA bronze medal game, either at Queen’s or at home against the Western Mustangs.
York took an early 5-3 lead in the opening set, thanks to a kill from Alex Ko. He and Chris Hoffman scored the first five for York, all kills, as the Lions two top offensive forces came to play early. Windsor responded to take a 6-5 lead, and eventually propelled that into a 19-14 advantage. However, a kill by Martin Prinsloo started a 7-0 run, six of which with Alex Dorling at the service line, making it 21-19 Lions. Prinsloo had four kills in the set off the bench, helping the Lions stay in the set. However, the Lancers took advantage of a couple York errors to get back on level terms at 23-all. They then put it away with back-to-back kills to take the opening set 25-23 and go up 1-0.
The second set began much like the first, with the teams going point for point early. However, a 4-0 run by Windsor turned a 4-4 tie into an 8-4 Lancer lead. The Lions continued to battle, getting it back to within two at various points. However, that early-set run provided the gap the Lancers needed, as they took the second 25-20, putting York on the precipice of a sweep. Second set highlights for the visitors included Ko and Prinsloo, who posted four and six kills, respectively.
For as tightly-contested as the first two sets were at times, the third set was equally as one-sided. The Lancers took an early 2-0 lead and only built on that from there. After Windsor made it 10-6, they went on another 10-6 spurt to seize control of the third, and eventually won the set – and with it, the match – on an ace from Kaden Reid. That sent the Lancers to the OUA championship and the Lions to the bronze medal game.
LOOKING AHEAD:
With Western’s five set loss (25-23, 22-25, 25-15, 25-27, 15-9) to the Queen’s Gaels in the other OUA semi, the Lions will host the Mustangs in the bronze medal match next weekend with a berth at the U SPORTS championships on the line. Stay tuned to yorkulions.ca for game details.