TORONTO — The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold women's volleyball team fell to the University of Toronto Varsity Blues on Saturday afternoon, 3-1.

The matchup was the second of a weekend back-to-back series between the two teams at the Goldring Centre. The home team Varsity Blues took a 3-0 victory on Friday evening, and the start of the game on Saturday seemed to suggest a similar outcome.

TMU found themselves in a hole early. Toronto utilized their powerful attacking abilities (the Varsity Blues rank third in the province in points per set) to put pressure on the Bold's back line, and they ran out to a dominant 10-2 lead.

A majority of Toronto's attacks came from the power side, where they relied heavily on their attempts getting through the Bold blockers.

"Toronto is a team that doesn't disguise how they play," explained TMU Head Coach Dustin Reid after the loss on Friday.

With the previous day's experience, the Bold were able to battle and win some points against the Varsity Blues' pressure, slowly chipping away at the score gap. After some hard-fought rallies, a smartly-placed kill from middle Ayla Cross narrowed Toronto's lead to just 23-17, forcing a Toronto timeout.

"Toronto puts together runs really well, but we showed that we can make some runs too," said Reid, "in the first set, we had a run of [six]."

The Varsity Blues eventually sealed the set with a 25-20 win, but the Bold had made it clear that they weren't going down without a fight. The team's fiery spirit and inability to give up brought them nearly all the way back in a set that at one point seemed all but lost.

"Even though we struggle in parts with their level of play, we showed that we can put them in some trouble too," praised Reid, "I think that really helped us find confidence in the second."

That newfound confidence did the Bold well, as the second set was a much more tightly-contested battle. 

Outside hitter Marta Cerovic made an appearance both late in the first and during the second, providing immediate impact off of the bench for TMU. The third-year was stellar on defence, logging career highs of 10 digs and four blocks in the game.

Cerovic's teammate Darcie Buchanan was also on fire. Her powerful attacks made for an effective counter against the aggressive offence of Toronto, and the Bold were able to capitalize off of the advantage for some big points.

Buchanan notched three of her team-high 14 kills within a six-point window during the second, where TMU's lead ballooned to five. The outside hitter finished the game with 16 points and 12 digs as well.

The Bold, their energy levels higher than ever, took set two 25-18.

Despite losing the match, the frame was a great example of the potential that the young TMU team houses. Their offence was firing on all levels, only making three errors with a hit percentage of 33%. 

"Consistency and execution are things that we're going to have to keep working at, but I was really proud of how we carried ourselves this weekend," praised Reid.

After TMU's break-out set, Toronto entered the third set with a vengeance. A four-point run early in the frame gave them a lead they would never give up, scoring 11 kills on just 31 attacks.

The Varsity Blues finished the third on a vicious 7-1 run, taking the set 25-13.

Although they were coming off of a rough set, TMU didn't seem affected. They went right back to work in the fourth, employing their same strategies to slow down Toronto's attacks and keep themselves in the game.

A service ace from setter Sadie Bird completed a 6-2 run for the Bold, giving them an early lead in the frame. Bird finished with 35 assists in the game, her second-highest total of the season.

The two teams went back and forth on small runs, keeping the score close. A four-to-one run from TMU tied the set at 24-24 and forced a Toronto timeout.

The Varsity Blues ended up emerging victorious in extra points, taking the frame 27-25. 

The loss wasn't without positives for the Bold, though.

While they didn't succeed on the scorecard, Reid's squad showed undying resiliency and a refusal to quit that forced Toronto to perform at their absolute best.

"I think this was a big step forwards for us," said Reid, "battling all weekend, we played seven sets. We only won one, but we had really good intensity and energy and competitiveness in almost all of them."

TMU now have six days to rest before returning home to the Mattamy Athletic Centre for a back-to-back series with the University of Waterloo Warriors. 

"It's going to be another difficult team to play against," admitted Reid, "that are really entrenched in their identity and know who they want to be. So it's going to be about can we execute with the ball on our side of the net?"

The first matchup is the Bold's winter homecoming game, and students can enter for free with their OneCards.