TORONTO — It's been 264 days since the Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold women's volleyball team stepped on their home court at the Mattamy Athletic Centre (MAC). Today, the team kicked off their season with their "Block Party" match against the Lakehead Thunderwolves.
The Bold ultimately fell in straight sets to the Thunderwolves (25-19, 25-21, 21-19).
The match saw the rookie debuts of
Makenna Williams,
Celeste Pelletier and
Qadira Shakespeare. Williams stood out with a decisive seven kills and nine digs on the night.
"I was a little nervous, but also excited, which is a good mix," said Williams. "I think having both of those [emotions] just helps me push myself harder and to work better."
"I'm not surprised that's how Makenna performed. She's a star," said Bold head coach
Julie Gordon.
Other standout players of the night included outside hitter
Marta Cerovic with ten kills and setter
Sadie Bird, who notched 23 assists. Opposite
Rian Lenarduzzi made for a dangerous right side, closing out her game with a .429 hitting percentage.
To begin the first set, Lenarduzzi led the attack early with two kills in the first five points for the Bold.
Due to a couple of errors, the Thunderwolves took an early 9-4 lead, prompting Gordon to call the first timeout of the evening.
The stoppage in play helped the Bold regroup and they began to chip away at the deficit. It started with the outsides, who continued to produce points with kills from Cerovic and fourth-year
Tyra Krapp.
After a second timeout from the home team, a pair of Lakehead errors and two points by TMU forced the opposing squad to call a timeout of their own.
The Bold continued to apply pressure and brought themselves within a point of the Thunderwolves at 19-18. However, errors would be the Bold's downfall in the opening set (19-25).
"I think there were some nerves at the start, and we just let it get away from us," said Bird. "[Our] main struggle is we weren't capitalizing on our offence."
The Bold didn't let the first set faze them and came out swinging in the second set, tallying the frame's first two points. Third-year middle,
Rayanna Amos-Ross Fisher, then went up for a solo block for the Bold to lead 3-0.
Yet, the momentum soon swung back the other way when the Thunderwolves responded with a four-point run. Sensing the moment, TMU's
Ayla Cross immediately scored an emphatic kill.
Both teams traded point runs, but the Bold continued to fight for production. After a timeout around the midway mark of the frame, Williams recorded a kill. Williams was hitting .444 up to that point of the contest.
Krapp continued the momentum with a solo shove for the Bold's 13th point.
Later in the frame, Lakehead went on a 4-0 run, leading the Bold to fight through a four-point deficit. With Lakehead knocking at the door with 24 points, the Bold worked to win the next two points to force the Thunderwolves to a timeout. A TMU service error would tip the scales for the Thunderwolves to take the second set 25-21.
The second set showed improvements for the Bold, where they cut their attack errors in half and tallied 11 kills for the second set in a row. Middle
Julia Breen made her mark on the set, leading the Bold in hitting efficiency.
The third set acted as a must-win set for the Bold to keep their home opener alive. A tool from Cerovic opened the scoring, and both teams would go on to trade point-for-point for the first twelve points of the set.
The Bold began to power ahead. A four-point run taking advantage of Lakehead errors prompted their opposition to be the first to use their timeout of the set. After a few more hard-fought points, Lakehead crawled its way back to even the score 14-14 and force Gordon's squad into a timeout themselves.
Lakehead would continue the pressure, returning to play with a 4-0 service run. The Bold's block was struggling to keep up with Lakehead setter Annika Trask's well-dispersed balls.
With the score 20-15 for the Thunderwolves, it was crunch time for the Bold to create a counterattack and turn the momentum of the set in their favour. A service error from the Thunderwolves served as a break, where the Bold fought back for a pair of points, one of those being a service ace from rookie setter Pelletier.
Despite the final push in points, the Bold fell in the third and final set of the night 25-18.
The team would conclude the game with a total of 32 kills, 51 digs and four service aces.
Returning to play tomorrow, the Bold look to learn and grow from the loss.
"I think it's a great opportunity for us to practice our rebound, or our reset… because we will play back-to-back matches throughout the entirety of the season," said Gordon.
The Bold look to even the series with the Thunderwolves on Oct. 31 back on home court at the MAC. First serve is set for 2:00 pm EST and students can attend for FREE with their One Card.
