TORONTO — The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold women's volleyball team secured a 3-1 win against the York Lions on Friday evening at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.

The game was the second of a back-to-back between the two teams, and much like the first, it featured many close sets.

The first set was the tightest of the match. Outside hitter Hannah Bellai kicked things off for the Bold with multiple entertaining plays, including a powerful kill and a block that bounced right off of the head of a Lions player.

Bellai was one of the top offensive players for TMU last season, averaging 2.49 kills per set, which ranked her second on the team.

Her attacking prowess helped lead the Bold to victory against York, as she led all players with 12 kills.

"Whenever I see that set coming, it's honestly the best feeling," explained Bellai, "it almost feels like slow motion. As I'm jumping, I'm thinking about the angle and hitting it with as much velocity I can pack."

Bellai's presence at the net kept Bold close in what would remain a back-and-forth set. The Lions managed to fight their way into an 11-7 lead, putting some pressure on the Bold to either bring things close or risk going down big. 

A smartly-placed kill from third-year outside hitter Kaiya Krahn into the back left corner brought some energy back into TMU, and things continued to stay close until late in the frame.

As the set creeped closer to its end, York had TMU on the ropes with a 25-24 lead and set point. Second-year middle Rayanna Amos-Ross Fisher stepped up, though, notching an emphatic kill to keep her team alive and tie things up.

From there, the set turned into the Hannah Bellai show. The outside hitter notched a kill to keep the Bold alive, followed by an impressive block and yet another kill to flip the score. TMU countered from being down one to up two, winning the first set 28-26.

"Hannah had a great game," praised Bold Head Coach Dustin Reid, "she stepped up."

In their previous matchup against the Lions, it was Krahn who stepped up with a strong performance for the squad. In that match, she finished with 23.5 points – the most ever in a three-set match for the Bold organization.

Despite both Krahn and Bellai's impressive nights, Reid is focused on the future. In coming games, he's looking to spread the Bold's offensive attack out to create a more well-rounded team:

"We need to balance out our team more. We need to find ways to get other players involved in our attack more often," he explained, "that needs to be a huge focus going forward. We can't expect one or two players to shoulder [the offensive load]...that's not a recipe for success going forward."

Spreading out the offensive touches in the future will largely be the role of first-year setter Mattea Di Bacco, who had a fantastic outing against the Lions in her first career OUA start.

"I thought Mattea played terrific tonight," praised Reid, "she has the ability to change the game in a lot of ways with her serving and defence."

As the game progressed to its second set, the score remained just as back and forth as the first – the lead didn't grow larger than three in favour of either team until the final point of the frame.

That point was a powerful attack from Amos-Ross Fisher that erupted the crowd and finally gave the Bold some much-needed momentum to pull away from the Lions. They finished the set off with a 25-20 win, making the set score 2-0.

Amos-Ross Fisher's step up in clutch time was a prime example of TMU's impressive ability to take things to another level in pressure situations. 

Reid has emphasized the leadership role being spread across the entire team, rather than just on the shoulders of one or two players–that mentality allows for everyone on the court to support each other when things get tough.

"I think if there's a highlight from the first two matches, that's definitely it: how we handle ourselves in the tight moments," said Reid after the match.

"When the leadership is spread out between teammates, we're all taking a step up and we're all working together. So it feels more like 'togetherness' than anything," added Bellai.

That 'togetherness' would be tested in the Bold's third set, as York stormed out to a 6-1 lead early, prompting Reid to call a timeout.


The break from play didn't make an immediate impact for the squad, though. The Lions continued to grow their lead to 16-7, forcing another TMU timeout. York's Victoria Herrington was hot during the run, pressuring the Bold's back line with her attacks.

Coming out of the second timeout, Reid's team showed signs of life with a back-to-back block and kill from second-year Julia Breen. Despite her efforts, though, the Lions refused to be stopped, winning it 25-12 and bringing the set score to 2-1 TMU.

The Bold seemed to take the loss of that set personally, starting the fourth frame off with a bang. Another Breen block raised the team's spirits, followed by a service ace by first-year setter Sadie Bird to bring TMU to a 2-0 lead.

A few points later, a long battle of a rally showed the Bold's resilience and fight. Multiple diving saves from multiple TMU players kept the ball in play, setting third-year Tyra Krapp up for a deep corner kill to give her team a 4-2 lead. 

With their newfound momentum, the Bold cruised into a comfortable lead midway through the frame. A 10-6 lead prompted a Lions timeout, and another 3-0 run immediately after to grow forced out the Lions' second and final timeout of the set.

York refused to go down without a fight though, barreling into a 7-0 run to tie things up at 13-13. 

The rest of what would be the final set of the match proved once again TMU's ability to battle under pressure.

A service ace by Krahn capped off a 3-0 run, earning the Bold the three-point lead that they held until the end of the set. Back-to-back attack errors from the Lions sealed the deal, and TMU took home the final set 25-20.

"We're feeling really good," said Bellai after the match, "We feel like we have a lot of potential this season, and we're all really excited to see where we're going to go."

The Bold now get to enjoy some well-deserved rest, taking six days off before traveling to North Bay for back-to-back games against the Nipissing Lakers on October 31st and November 1st. 

"We have a really tough road trip next weekend," admitted Reid, "I think we'll learn a lot about ourselves there. It's not so much about getting a result all the time, but just seeing if we can perform better than we did this weekend."

First serve for their match on the 31st is set for 8 p.m. The game can be streamed live on OUA.tv.