TORONTO – The Ryerson Rams men's volleyball team earned their first victory of the season on Wednesday night, coming back after dropping the first set to win three straight and defeat York 3-1 (19-25, 25-21, 25-17, 25-23) at the Tait McKenzie Centre.

The Rams were led by Xander Ketrzynski (Toronto) with 17 kills and 22.5 total points. Gregory Vukets (Auckland, New Zealand) added 10 kills and a team-high nine digs in the win.

The first set was sloppy by both teams, with multiple service errors recorded, sometimes consecutively, which left the offences unable to get into a rhythm. It was the Lions, however, who were able to use their blocking game to earn momentum and emerge from the first set with a 25-19 win.

Early play in the second set was back and forth between the teams, as the Rams and Lions exchanged points and mini runs. Ryerson's service game was much improved from the first set, putting pressure on the Lions and forcing some over passes which the Rams capitalized on for easy points. 

Ryerson opened a four point lead at 21-17 after Derek Webster (Ottawa, Ont.) recorded a block, then he tacked on a kill to make it a 22-17 score, giving the Rams some room to work. The set concluded with a Xander Ketrzynski service ace, and the Rams took it 25-21 to tie the match at 1-1.

Webster continued his strong game at the net in the third, combining for a block with Riley Anderson (Cambridge, Ont.) to give Ryerson an early 8-4 lead and forcing a York timeout. Ketrzynski went on a service run to take a 13-6 lead and the lead grew to as many as 10 at 21-11, as Ryerson cruised to a 25-17 third set win to take a 2-1 lead overall.

Strong serving from Anderson and efficient attacking from Navreet Suhan (Mississauga, Ont.) helped Ryerson jump out to a 5-0 lead in the fourth and looked ready to close the book on the match, but credit to the Lions who clawed their way back. 

After seeing their lead slip away and the score tied at 19-19, Ryerson executed well down the stretch. Greg Vukets tallied back-to-back kills to put the Rams up by two, while Anderson tacked on a block to make it a 22-19 game. The Rams held three match points, leading 24-21, and were finally able to put the Lions away with a Ketrzynski off-speed shot to clinch the set 25-23 and the match 3-1.

The Rams improve to 1-1 on the season and will be back in action on Friday night when they take on the Nipissing Lakers at 8:00 p.m. in North Bay.