TORONTO - The Rams women's volleyball team fell 3-1 in Saturday's game against same-city rivals the Toronto Varsity Blues. While the loss lowers them to a 0-4 start to the season, the team began to show promise and progression on the offensive end, an improvement that Rams head coach Dustin Reid said he was pleased to see.

"I'm really happy with the confidence and aggression we saw today," Reid said, "and if we can play as well as we did today next weekend, then we'd be putting ourselves in a good position [for a win]."

The Rams got off to a shaky start in the first set as they found their bearing at Goldring Centre. At one point, with Toronto leading 20-15 in the first, a lengthy rally ensued, building up intensity before ending in a block by Katelyn Grasman. But despite Grasman's point and a few clean kills by Mikayla Sheriffs, the Rams had a few too many errors to maintain a tight race with Toronto, and the Varsity Blues won the set 25-18. 

The second set saw a confidence from the Rams that wasn't there in the first, and the team consistently kept both ball control and the scoreboard even. As setter Alicia Lam switched up tempo accordingly, aggressive kills from Ashley Ditchfield and Katelyn Grasman kept the Rams in the lead to come out of the set victorious, winning by two.

"We took care of the middle part of the second set really well, and we gave ourselves a chance after 20 points to be in a position to win," Reid said, pointing out that the push in the middle of a set is crucial to the team's success.

"It's a difficult thing to hang in there when the other team's playing well, and we did that in the second," Reid said.

Toronto came back stronger in the third set. While the Rams maintained a close distance behind the opposing team, matching every Varsity Blues point for the first half, they closed in on the Rams to take the set 25-17.

By the fourth, the Rams had regained their energy. The set saw rookie Mary Ann Rioflorido diving for saves and outside hitter Zoe Kuck finding opportunities to block attacks coming the team's way. Even as Toronto's lead increased and a fifth set no longer looked to be in sight, the Rams continued to cheer each other on and finish the game strong. The last set ended in a 25-12 win for Toronto.

The Rams will head over to North Bay next weekend for their two-game series against the Nipissing Lakers, looking to put their progression to practice and bring home their first win of the season.