TORONTO — The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold men's volleyball team has a new look this 2025-26 season. With seven first-year additions and one transfer student, the Bold are in an unfamiliar position compared to last season when there was only one new addition to the team.

The 2024-2025 season had an unfortunate end as the Bold found themselves just outside the playoffs after losing to the York Lions in the final match of the regular season. TMU had high hopes for a playoff run as they had six seniors who had been in the program for years and were hungry for a postseason. 

Despite the end of their season being cut short, the Bold took the off-season to rebuild, continue to develop and grow stronger as a team. Heading into the off-season, there were many areas of focus for the team.

"We were trying to get to know each other," said Head Coach Niko Rukavina. "For the coaching staff, a lot of it was that there were so many new athletes in the gym. We were trying to figure out what everyone needed to work on technically. So a bit of a slower process early than normal in terms of just working on some technique, both on the court and in the weight room."

While working on technique and systems, relationship building and having a sense of community were always at the forefront, and fourth-year returning player Riley Donovan talked about creating a culture of discipline and hard work. In addition to Donovan, setter Evan Moua is another veteran on the team and speaks positively about the relationships they built during the off-season and pre-season.

"There's a bunch of new guys on the court with me, but honestly, it's been a very seamless transition," said Moua. "We've built a lot of relationships off the court that translate seamlessly onto the court."

There are many new additions on the team, but that does not overshadow the returning players — Tony Tanouchev, Riley Donovan, Evan Moua, Declan Dunn, Liam Cobb, Aidan Hooper, Day Westell, Bobby Tang, and Kai Taylor — and among those, Moua, Donovan, Tanouchev and Dunn have formed the leadership team.

"With a big class of veterans moving on after last year, it kind of opened up some new space for new leadership and those four have really stepped up," said Rukavina. 

Despite Tanouchev having an injury and being out for the first semester, his leadership has still been vital to the team. Tanouchev continues to be an active voice off the court and is going through injury rehab to get better for the new year. In his place, as libero, will be first-year Ethan Lau.

This year the Bold will not lack unpredictability. They have a lot of options for their offence from both pins and in the middle, compared to the previous season, where they suffered from predictability towards the end of the game due to Jacob Walker and Alex King, who were the team's go-to players. 

"We were a little bit more one note and teams could game plan against us a little bit easier because we had one or two bigger hitters," said Rukavina. "Now we're pretty well-rounded and it's been fun to watch Evan and Declan, our setters, run a spread offence and run a lot of different players through our zone."

Due to the well-roundedness of the team, the offensive identity this season is all about balance. Donovan explained how this season, they are getting all the hitters involved to really keep the opponent guessing where the ball will go next. This season, there is a mix of hitters ranging from those who are crafty and smart in placing the ball and those who are very physical and use force and power to get the point.

On the defensive side of things, this year the Bold have help from new lead assistant coach Marc Wilson — a former middle blocker who played on Team Canada. Wilson carries a high level of knowledge for game planning in their block defence.

"I think from the second we started with Marc coming in this year, he has been really grinding it out with us to have a solid and consistent defensive plan," said Tanouchev. "I think having that structure set in place early will help us maintain the same system, no matter if it's one ball over the net or if the rally's been going on 10 times over the net."

In terms of their defensive identity, they want to be set and stable and be in the right spot every single time. They aim to be consistent.

So far, Rukavina is starting to see the framework of the team that he wants and the program he wants to put together. They have all the pieces in the gym this year, and it's all about getting everyone in sync as a team and working together.

"Especially for this year, just getting our foot in the door and just seeing what could happen, that is the main goal," said Donovan.

The regular season will be in full swing starting Thursday, October 23. The Bold will face the York Lions at 8 p.m. at the Mattamy Athletic Centre. TMU students get in free with their OneCard.