Kajan Thiruthanikasalam (Sports Writer, Colts Athletics)
SCARBOROUGH, ONT.- For the fourth consecutive game, the Centennial Colts men's volleyball team went to a fifth and deciding set, this time against the Algonquin Thunder.
Although they fell short this time, there were a lot of lessons learned from this weekend.
Centennial (3-2) suffered their second straight loss against Algonquin (2-4) in a hard fought five set battle (27-29, 26-24, 25-14, 19-25, 12-15) at the Athletic and Wellness Centre. The win snapped a four game losing streak for the Thunder.
"We have stressed to the players that volleyball, in itself, is a very humbling sport," Colts assistant coach Chichky Hua said. "One weekend we can be 3-0 and the next we can lose two in a row. As a team, we need to make sure we're mentally prepared whether it's staying together on the court, and making sure that we're making the right calls and executing the plays that we need to. Down the stretch, that's what's going to take us over the top."
The Colts suffered a significant blow in the third set when outside hitter Jordan Saddler left the game with an ankle injury and did not return.
"That kind of shook us," Hua admitted. "Jordan is arguably our best passer on the court and for him to go down, it puts a little bit more stress on our other passers."
Saddler finished with six points on five kills. His status for Wednesday's game is uncertain. However, Hua says that the players need to take a next man approach in situations like this.
"The players that are filling in need to understand that regardless of who is on the court, they need to be mentally, physically, and psychologically prepared to fill that void," Hua said. "Next man up."
The stats signified how close this game as the first two sets went past 25 points. Algonquin had a slight edge in most categories, outpacing Centennial in digs (38-31), kills (48-45), assists (43-37), aces (8-7) and blocks (8-5) despite committing 16 service errors.
The Thunder were led by the duo of outside hitter Jarrod McNaughton and middle hitter Jonas Zeithammel as McNaughton scored a game high 19 points and filled up the stat sheet with 13 kills, with game highs in digs (nine), aces (three; tied with middle hitter Tom Cullingworth) and blocks (three). Zeithammel had a game high 18 kills while setter Jonah Nieman had 40 assists.
Meanwhile, the Colts were led by outside hitter Sev Libramonte with 13 points on 12 kills and one ace. Outside hitter Griffin Dubbeld was the only other Colt in double figures with 10 points.
Setter Adam Yu Qiu led Centennial with 30 assists and two blocks (tied with middle blocker Eric Slyfield) while libero Calvin Yu had a game high nine digs. Slyfield also was very efficient with his kill attempts, converting five out of seven.
The Colts started off well in the first set, taking an early 6-2 lead and had an 18-16 lead but the Thunder scored four straight, highlighted by consecutive aces from Cullingworth, to take a 20-18. However, the Colts bounced back quickly and had set point after a kill from Saddler gave them a 24-23 lead. But Algonquin leveled the score at deuce before both teams played equal during the next six points.
A block attempt that went out for Centennial, comnbined with an attack error from Saddler, ended the set as Algonquin took it, 29-27.
Centennial once again started off well in the second set, scoring the first four points but Algonquin once again rallied to tie the set, this time at seven apiece. Both teams then wrestled for the lead and a block from Qiu gave Centennial a 17-15 lead. However, Algonquin scored the next four points to take a 19-17 lead and forced a Colts timeout.
Out of the timeout, Algonquin shot themselves in the foot with multiple attack errors. A pair of blocks, one each from middle blocker Edvaldo Hire and Qiu (last point of the set) highlighted the Colts rally as Centennial tied the game, taking the second set, 26-24.
"The first two sets could have went either way. Both teams were evenly matched," Hua said. "That's what we're trained for; it's a matter of executing down the stretch."
Slyfield imposed his will early in the third set with two kills and a block as Centennial jumped out to a 7-2 lead. The Colts continued to add onto their lead with consecutive kills from Libramonte and took their biggest lead of the set at 17-5 before Saddler's injury.
After Saddler left, the Thunder scored three straight points to cut the lead to 17-8. They did get the deficit to eight but that was as close as the Thunder got as an ace from Dubbeld capped off a dominant 25-14 set win for Centennial.
"Tactically, the other team matched their biggest blocker against Adam Qiu," Hua said. "We made an in-game adjustment in the third set which worked out really well. We changed up our rotation slightly so that Adam could get a freer swing on second contact."
Dubbeld had three kills in the set while Slyfield set the tone early with those two kills.
"In general, the rookies' presence has been amazing," Hua said about Dubbeld, Qiu, Slyfield, and middle blocker Arya Yaghini. "It's a testament to our growing program and the desire to play for the Colts. We rely heavily upon them but one thing that we've stressed is that they can't settle for mediocrity."
Consecutive attack errors from Centennial made them fall behind early in the fourth set, as Algonquin took an early 4-1 lead. The Thunder were up 7-5 before the Colts scored three straight points to take an 8-7 lead, capped off by back-to-back aces from Slyfield.
However, Algonquin took control of the fourth set with a momentum-shifting 7-0 run to take a 14-8 lead, forcing a Colts timeout. After Centennial cut the deficit to four with a pair of kills from Fillion, the Thunder then scored five straight to take a 21-12 lead and forced yet another Centennial timeout.
Centennial cut the lead to as little as four (21-16) but the deficit was too much to overcome in the set as Algonquin took the fourth set, 25-19, and forced a deciding fifth set.
In the fifth set, Centennial scored the first point but three consecutive attack errors allowed Algonquin to take the lead. Centennial fought back to cut the lead to one at 6-5 but Algonquin responded with five straight points, highlighted by a pair of Thunder aces, extending their lead to 11-5, forcing a Colts timeout.
Centennial would not go away quietly, though, as kills from Qiu and Slyfield capped off five straight points from them and forced Algonquin to call a timeout.
Algonquin was up 14-12 with two match points in hand when Yu surprised the Colts crowd with a massive kill attempt down the line that was initially called in. After review, however, the kill attempt was called out, much to the fury of the team and its fans as the Thunder took the game, winning the fifth set, 15-12.
Centennial concludes their four game homestand on Wednesday Nov. 22 at 8:00pm but will have to be on top of their game as they play the undefeated Georgian Grizzlies (7-0).
"They're a very sound, balanced team," Hua said. "We got to make sure that we're mentally and tactically prepared to go in to defend homecourt. The players that are being asked to step up need to step up and we need to do it together (consistently)."