TORONTO — The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold men's volleyball team lost 3-2 to the York University Lions in a nail-biting game.

Despite the loss, the Bold's play was significantly better across all fronts compared to the night before. The team's cohesion, defence and offence were all impressive, and was a nice teaser into what the future of the Bold could hold.

In the first set, noticeable differences were immediately apparent compared to the previous game. Gavin Elzinga, Kai Taylor and Riley Donovan demonstrated their strong presence on the court, making impressive offensive plays. Another noticeable improvement from the prior game was that the height from York's side did not seem to intimidate the Bold. In this contest, they were able to get above York to get the block and on the flipside were able to get past York's defence. Donovan and Taylor, in particular, had success on the attack with 14 and 10 kills, respectively.

In an unfortunate end to the set, the Bold, who were down 24-23, suffered from a rotation error, ending the set 25-23. However, this loss did not dictate the results of the next set.

The Bold went ahead early in the second set. They displayed a different kind of togetherness today that was rooted in great communication and passing. Compared to last year, the Bold have more options on the court and have used that to their advantage so far this season, making them less predictable.

"We are trying to get everyone involved," said outside hitter Aidan Suttie. "Our outsides and our libero did a really good job of getting the ball in position where we could really spread out evenly. We were really trying to make sure they didn't know where the ball was going to go."

With a wise decision from Ethan Lau, who signalled the ball being out of bounds, it brought the Bold to set point and they claimed the second set, 25-23 and evened things out.

The Bold kept the ball rolling in the third set. They carried the positive momentum from the previous set and found their stride. The Bold lost their lead, but a common theme of the last two sets was the Bold and the Lions exchanging leads throughout each set. 

Everything changed when Aidan Suttie stepped up to serve. With seven straight serves, the Bold turned things around, going from down 18-17 to up 23-18. Both Aidan Suttie and Riley Donovan — the duo from Australia — made big impacts in this game. Suttie recorded four service aces and four kills, while Riley Donovan added two service aces in addition to his game-high 14 kills. 

"Riley's been working hard and he's in his fourth year, so he's been waiting for this opportunity to be our guy and he's stepped up," said Head Coach Niko Rukavina. "Suttie is in his first year, and he's been working hard and getting used to a different country and living somewhere else. We've really been dialling in on his serve and taking a little bit of risk away from it. I thought he did a really good job of just putting in a consistent ball. Really proud of both those guys."

They claimed their second set in a row 25-21, with high hopes to close the game out in the fourth set.

The Bold led early in the fourth set, but that lead trailed off midway through the set, and the Bold could not retake the lead. The set ended 25-18 in the Lions' favour.

Everything seemed to be going the Bold's way in the fifth set. They captured the first two points before York equalized. However, the game changer was the Lions four consecutive service errors  , which gave the Bold a six-point lead. With another service error from York, the Bold saw match point and victory in their sights, but it all slipped away. The Lions were able to catch up and in a final effort took the set 17-15.

Despite the loss, the Bold made significant progress from their first game and have a lot to take away from the second game of the season. 

"We're going to enjoy the fact that we've fought back today and played pretty well," said Rukavina. "We're a young team and we have to learn how to win. That was a good learning moment for us."

The Bold will play the Nippissing University Lakers next on Friday, Oct. 31 at 8 p.m. in North Bay, Ont. Fans can watch the game on OUA.tv.