The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold women's volleyball seen their two-game win streak halted, after a 3-1 (23-25, 17-25, 25-21, 20-25) loss to the Toronto Varsity Blues on Saturday night at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.

After dropping the opening two sets of the match, the Bold responded in a big way in the third to force a fourth with a 25-21 win. But ultimately, that was as far as they could go as the Blues finished it out in the fourth-and-final frame.

Bethany Smith led the way for the Bold with 11 kills with a .435 hitting percentage, while chipping in two blocks and four digs. Scarlett Gingera also reached double-digit kills with ten of her own to go along with 11 digs. 

TMU was hosting Pride Night — the first-ever for the university — to commemorate the 2SLGBTQ+ community. 

"It was really cool to see. I know it's hard in sports to have representation," said Jyoti Ruparell.

"It's a great thing to play for. It was a great night. There was so much spirit and energy in the gym tonight that I think almost shocked our athletes," said assistant coach Brett Hagarty, who filled in for Dustin Reid in his absence.

The Mattamy Athletic Centre was also at full capacity, which had a direct effect on the game. 

"So grateful and appreciative of everyone that was here," said Ruparell. "One of the craziest nights and craziest games we played."

"It was an awesome experience," said Hagarty.

In the game itself, the opening set featured both sides trading blows as there were a total of 10 lead changes and six ties throughout the frame. However, the Blues went on a run in the heart of the frame to take momentum. The Bold nearly wrangled control back, however, the Blues were able to close out the set 25-23. 

"We fed off the energy of the audience. We did want to come out with the win, but the cause was more important," said Rioflorido. 

The beginning of the second was much of the same as the teams were going back and forth offensively. Yet, a string of errors from TMU in the latter half of the set proved costly as it allowed the Blues to take the set. 

"We were making some uncharacteristic errors that we wouldn't necessarily always make," said Hargarty.

However, in the third, the Bold found a rhythm offensively and were firing on all cylinders with 14 kills in the set. The blue and gold rode the crowd's energy to the 25-21 set win.  

Nonetheless, the Bold comeback was halted in the fourth as the Blues scraped away a tight 25-20 set win. 

TMU hit the court next Saturday against another crosstown rival in the York Lions on the first night of a back-to-back. The first serve is scheduled at 7:00 p.m. They head to Windsor, Ont., to face off against the Lancers the following night. 

 "They're going to be fired up to play both York and Windsor because we lost to them earlier in the season," said Hagarty.