Bold fall to Mustangs despite strong second set

TORONTO — The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold women's volleyball team fell to the No. 10 nationally-ranked Western Mustangs on Friday evening, 25-17, 25-23, 25-12 at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in both teams' first matchup back from holiday break.

The Mustangs stormed out to a strong start in the first, building up a 6-1 lead thanks to their OUA-best 22.4% hitting percentage. 

"The whole match we struggled with the serving that Western executed," explained Bold Head Coach Dustin Reid, "They were very consistent and very good and we really struggled handling that."

Western notched 10 service aces to the TMU's three in the matchup.

As they always do, though, the gritty and fiery Bold team fought hard to keep themselves in it. Before long, the set was back within one point at 7-6 Mustangs. TMU's run was propelled by kills from outside hitters Kaiya Krahn and Sadie Bird, the latter of which was a tricky dump set that caught the Mustangs defence off guard.

But in yet another change of momentum, Western took a turn going on a run to regain their lead. The Bold suddenly found themselves 20-11 and on the brink of a first set loss.

Despite a four-point streak from the Bold in an attempt to keep themselves in the set, the Mustangs inevitably took the frame with a score of 25-17.

The start of the second was a much more back-and-forth battle. The teams traded kills–a pair of which for the Bold came from outside hitter Darcie Buchanan, who led her team with 11 successful attacks on the night to go along with a career high three assists.

As the score crept higher, it was once again Buchanan who notched an impressive kill to cap off a three-point run for TMU. 

Outside hitter Rian Lenarduzzi provided some contribution of her own in clutch time, logging one of her career-high seven kills in the match to tie things up at 20-20.

The score stayed close at 23-23. Fourth-year Mustangs middle Ava Elbert ended up sealing the deal for her team with back-to-back kills, taking the hard-fought set by a mere two points and unfortunately putting the Bold's backs against the wall.

Despite the score not falling in his team's favour, Reid was happy to put some pressure on the highly-ranked Western squad: 

"In the second set, we competed, and gave ourselves a chance towards the end. Even if we didn't win it, we forced Western to have to play really well at their end and execute on their side of the ball. That's a small win." 

The Mustangs carried that winning momentum into the third and final set, pulling away to an early 6-2 lead and never giving it up. 

Some impressive kills from Buchanan wooed the home crowd, but the Bold couldn't get themselves back in the game. Western continued to impress on the service line, taking the third set 25-12 and the match 3-0.

"I think that was more of a factor in the third set than the first two," admitted Reid in reference to the Mustangs' serving.

The loss unfortunately snapped the three-game winning streak that TMU had built in their games prior to the holiday break, setting their record at 6-5 and ninth in the OUA standings.

The Bold have their chance at revenge in a matinee matchup against the Mustangs on Saturday morning:

"It's really about what we do on our side of the net," explained Reid, "Can we control the ball better in our first contact, via passing or defence? Can we give more hittable balls with our second contact so we can try to play aggressively on our third and force Western to have to deal with that more often?"

With first serve set for 4 p.m. at the Mattamy Athletic Centre. Students can enter the game for free with their OneCards.