TORONTO — The no. 2 Ryerson Rams couldn't dig themselves out of a 2-0 deficit before dropping a five-set match (13-25, 15-25, 25-20, 26-24, 9-15) to the no. 4 Toronto Varsity Blues on Friday evening at the Goldring Centre in Toronto.
The loss to the Varsity Blues marked the end of Ryerson's season-long unbeaten streak that dated back to the Rams' home opener against Lakehead on October 25.
Ryerson would visibly struggle in the first set of the match, falling behind 7-2 at the start of the game. The Rams served up just four kills in the first set, hitting at .000 percent and going down 1-0 after a 25-13 loss to Toronto in set one.
"We should have expected Toronto to play the way they did," says Rams head coach Dustin Reid. "The way they defended in the first ten minutes of the match was as good as we've seen this season."
The second set wasn't any better for the streaking Rams. Toronto's strength on all ends of the court went unmatched by the Rams as the Varsity Blues waltzed into their second set win of the night to go up 2-0 in the match.
Toronto would replicate similar results at the beginning of the third, but the Rams' mid-set push helped tie it up at 10. Ryerson pulled ahead by a narrow one-point margin at the third technical by the grace of their mid-set momentum swing and never looked back from there, taking their first set-win of the match in the third and cutting Toronto's lead to one.
A neck-in-neck fourth set swung by way of the Rams off the strong serving of Kelly Shaefer (Uxbridge, Ont.). Ryerson again led by one at the technical and continued to push hard through the remainder of the set, battling their way to a 26-24 win in the fourth to send the game to a fifth set.
The Varsity Blues pulled ahead 8-4 halfway through the set and continued to dominate the Rams, eventually closing off the game in five after taking the decisive set 15-9.
Ryerson's Cailin Wark (Georgetown, Ont.) led the Rams with 15 kills on the match, while outside hitter Brett Hagarty (Aurora, Ont.) totaled 10 kills and a career-high 30 digs through five sets.
"This game showed us we can't expect to keep playing the way we're playing and be champions," says Reid. "It also shows that we have the ability to do great things, to turn the tides in a match and represent the school the way we want to — with pride, toughness and resilience."
The Rams will be back in action tomorrow night at the Mattamy Athletic Centre to host the Trent Excalibur at 6:00 p.m.
