Kajan Thiruthanikasalam (Sports Writer, Colts Athletics)

SCARBOROUGH, ONT.- Since coming back into the OCAA, the Centennial Colts men's volleyball program had not started a season, winning the first three games. In fact, the Colts' last three game winning streak came back in the week of Jan. 17-24, 2016, when they beat Canadore, Algonquin, and La Cite.

Until today.

A pair of service aces late from outside hitter Sev Libramonte propelled the Colts (3-0) to its third straight win in the first game of a four game homestand, beating the Loyalist Lancers (1-4) in a five-set thriller (25-17, 28-30, 25-18, 16-25, 15-10), at the Athletic and Wellness Centre. Centennial joins the Georgian Grizzlies and the Fanshawe Falcons as the only other undefeated teams left in the OCAA.

"We are coming together and we're finding different ways to win," assistant head coach Chichky Hua said. "That, in particular, was an ugly win for us but to pull it out in the fifth set is a testament to them staying together and having the positive body language that we've been trying to stress on the entire season."

Libramonte finished with a game high three service aces and had 18 points on 15 kills. Outside hitter Jordan Saddler finished with game highs of 22 points, 16 kills and five blocks, while libero Calvin Yu paced Centennial with 13 digs. Middle blocker Jason Fillion finished with 14 points on 11 kills.

Rookie setter Adam Yu Qiu had 10 points, four blocks, and led the way with a game high 46 assists in the victory.

"Adam's gonna be, in my opinion, one of the focal points of our team," Hua said. "He's brought stability, leadership and an intensity to the game especially at the most important position of the floor. For him to come in and provide that leadership as a lefty is a bonus because it keeps teams guessing and on their toes.

Despite, Qiu's performance, Hua said there was room for improvement after this game.

"He played okay this match," Hua said. "The decision making can be a lot better with set decisions but those will come in time."

Centennial outpaced Loyalist in attack kills (56-45), assists (49-42), digs (33-32), and blocks (11-6). However, it wasn't all positive as the Colts committed a whopping 46 attack errors.

"We're going to go back to the drawing board," Hua said. "We made way too many unforced errors at the service line, through miscommunication, not executing on free ball opportunities and transitioning off their attack and turning it into offense for us."

The match started off with a block from Saddler and Centennial scored five straight points early in the set to take an 8-4 lead after a service ace from outside hitter Griffin Dubbeld and kills from Qiu and Libramonte during that stretch.

Although Loyalist crept closer with three straight points, Centennial then scored nine of the next 11 points to take a 17-9 lead, highlighted by Fillion's consecutive kills, and forced a Lancers timeout. From there on, they held the Lancers at bay as they took the first set, 25-17.

The second set saw the Lancers get off to a 6-2 start and had the lead for half of the set until a kill from Libramonte gave the Cotls a 14-13 lead. That lead didn't last long, however, as Loyalist scored seven of the next nine points to take a 20-16 lead, forcing Colts head coach Alain Arseneau to call a timeout.

The Colts responded, scoring six of the next seven points, with three consecutive kills from Saddler. However, the Lancers pulled off three straight points after that, taking a 24-22 lead, with two set points. Two straight points, capped off by another kill from Libramonte, however, evened the set at 24. 

Centennial and Loyalist then exchanged the next eight points before the Lancers scored two straight to take the second set, 30-28.

Fillion, Libramonte, and Saddler each had a pair of kills to open the third set as Centennial took an early 11-6 lead and forced another Lancers timeout. From there on out, the Colts held Loyalist at bay throughout the set as they took the fourth set, 25-18.

Libramonte had four kills in that set while Fillion and Saddler had three apiece.

It looked like Centennial took a stranglehold in the match as they began the fourth set with an early 7-4 lead. Loyalist, though, had other ideas as they pulled off seven straight points to take an 11-7 lead, capped off by a kill from outside hitter Josh Roberts and forced Arseneau to call a timeout.

The timeout did not stop Loyalist's momentum, however, as they widened their lead in the set. The Lancers, after a block from outside hitter Joe Bresee, capped off a dominant fourth set, taking it, 25-16, and like the Lancers women earlier, sent the match into a tiebreaking fifth set.

Determined not to lose, the Colts came out flying in the fifth set as they took an 8-4 lead but the Lancers came storming back to tie the set at 10. 

A kill from Qiu gave Centennial the lead for good before Libramonte derailed Loyalist's hopes of coming back with consecutive service aces, the last of which was a gutsy floating serve that stunned the Lancers players.

"Sev's one of the senior players and we expect nothing less," Hua said. "He has that funky spin float serve and he's preparing that for four years now so for him to come together and hit two aces to steal the tide and the win is huge."

For good measure, a block from Saddler capped off five straight points from Centennial and the match, as they took the fifth set, 15-10.

However, according to Hua, the errors need to be cleaned up heading into a back-to-back set at home next weekend against the La Cite Coyotes and the Algonquin Thunder.

"We need to make sure we're as prepared as we possibly can against two Ottawa teams that are going to be tough to face and always bring a battle on the court," Hua said.

UP NEXT: Centennial continues its homestand as they begin the first of a back-to-back set at home on Saturday Nov. 18, against the La Cite Coyotes at 6:00 pm.