Kajan Thiruthanikasalam (Sports Writer, Colts Athletics)
SCARBOROUGH, ONT.- Up 10-5 in the third set, the Centennial Colts men's volleyball team were primed to win in straight sets for the first time this season and set a program record for most wins in a season.
The Seneca Sting, however, had something to say about that.
Centennial (6-8) fell in five sets (25-22, 25-22, 20-25, 18-25, 13-15) to Seneca (5-9) as the visitors rallied from being down two sets.
Despite outpacing the Sting in kills (59-51), assists (53-48) and digs (55-29), errors killed the hosts as they committed 29 attack and 15 service errors during the match. Centennial was beat in blocks, 13-7, by Seneca.
The loss overshadowed a game high 23 points from Sev Libramonte on 21 kills. Arya Yaghini made his return to the Colts lineup from injury and finished with 13 points on 11 kills while Jordan Saddler finished with 12 points and Griffin Dubbeld had 11 with a team high three blocks.
For Seneca, Dilshan Subasinghe led the way with 21 points and was ridiculously efficient, with a .842 kill percentage (16/19). Subasinghe also had a game high five blocks.
It was even for the first half of the set but it was the Sting that had an 18-15 lead. That lead wouldn't last long as Centennial scored five of the next seven points, capped off by consecutive kills from Dubbeld to tie the set at 20. A block from Dubbeld turned the momentum in Centennial's favour as the hosts took the first set, 25-22.
Centennial got off to a quick start in the second set, going up 10-6, and forcing an early timeout from Seneca but a sequence by Subasinghe, in which he got three straight points off two kills ans a block, tied the set at 12 and forced the Colts to call a timeout of their own. But the hosts responded, scoring seven of the next nine points, capped off by a block from Yaghini, as they forced the Sting to burn its final timeout of the set.
Seneca cut the lead to two (20-18) but consecutive kills from Libramonte, who had four in the set alone, effectively put the set out of reach as the Colts won the second set, 25-22.
An ace from Libramonte seemed to give Centennial all the momentum as they were up 12-8 in the fourth set but four straight points from the Sting tied the set at 12. Both teams then went back and forth for the next nine points before a service error from Libramonte and an ace from Alercio Alves sparked a 9-3 run from Seneca as they took the third set, 25-20.
Both teams exchanged barbs for the first half of the fourth set as the score was tied at 13. But errors reared their ugly head for the Colts as Yaghini and Qiu each had consecutive errors after that. Seneca took advantage of the miscues as they went on a 12-5 run to close out the set. Alves hit his fourth kill of the set to give the Sting the fourth set by a score of 25-18.
The fifth set had Seneca jump out to an early 5-2 lead but Centennial chipped away and tied the set at six after a kill from Libramonte. Both teams then played even for the next 14 points with another kill from Libramonte tying the set at 13. But despite his four kills in the fifth set, consecutive points from Seneca's Ayo Ojeshina (kill, block) completed the Sting's comeback, winning the fifth set, 15-13, and the match.
UP NEXT: Centennial looks to stop its two game losing streak as they head out on the road to face the George Brown Huskies (11-4) on Saturday Feb. 3 at 3:00pm.