Following separate road trips to Thunder Bay and Hamilton, respectively, last weekend, the York University Lions volleyball teams returned to Tait Mckenzie Centre to face a pair of weak RMC Paladins teams in the first games of a weekend series on Friday night. The York women’s team came in at 7-7 and looking to get over .500 for the first time since Nov. 1, with the men’s team at 10-4 and looking to move up to second in the OUA with a win and a Queen’s loss to Western.
Women’s Match:
It was all Lions early on, as they got out to a 10-2 start that forced an early Paladins timeout. York grew their lead to double digits at 16-6 off a Paladin error, as they cruised to a 25-13 set one win to go up l-0. Although the Lions gained most of their points off mistakes by the Paladins, Victoria Herrington led the set with three kills.
The second half started much closer, with the score knotted at 5-5, the Lions were able to slowly pull away with five straight points . Herrington added two aces, and Amarai Endes dropped ?ve crucial kills that helped the Lions edge out the set 25-17 to take a 2-0 lead.
Hungry for the sweep, the Lions opened the third on a 10-4 run. The Lions maintained a sizable lead throughout most of the set, and Kianna Drewniak helped ?nish it off win with three kills and two service aces in the final set, giving the Lions a clean match win of 3-0 (25-13, 25-16, 25-17).
Men’s Match:
The Lions took control early, beginning the match with 10 of the first 15 points. The Paladins were able to crawl back midway through the opening set, cutting the lead to 17-14. However, the efforts of the high-?ying Alex Ko, who posted two kills and two aces late in the set, helped York take the opening set 25-17 to go up 1-0.
Picking up where they left off, the Lions set out to another strong start of 13-5. Richard Housen Jr began to heat up off the bench, bringing his kill total to ?ve midway through the set. Ko also remained hot, allowing the Lions to control the pace throughout and win the second 25-16 to go up 2-0.
The Lions trailed early on in the third, but eventually tied it up at 12-12 midway through in what was a much closer set. Despite the slow start, York scored ?ve straight points, in a series where Sam Jansen picked up multiple kills including a potential OUA play of the week candidate with a ferocious smash to make it 14-12. The Paladins never recovered from that run as the Lions went on to win the third 25-17 to secure the sweep (25-17, 25-16, 25-17) and enter double-digits in the win column with their 10th of the year.
LOOKING AHEAD:
Following a pair of dominant wins, the Lions teams will duel with RMC on Saturday afternoon in the back half of the weekend double-header on seniors day at Tait McKenzie Centre. Note the early start times, with the women’s match beginning at noon, followed by the men’s match at 2:00 pm.