The Windsor Lancers were back home for a rare night game at the St. Denis Centre on Friday hosting the Ryerson Rams . Despite the cold November night the Lancers were looking to stay hot after their two wins last week improved their national rank to No. 7 in Canada.
 
The Lancers had a tough first set but battled back to take the match in four sets, 3-1 (21-25, 25-20, 25-18 and 25-17).
 
 
GAME STATS
Xander Ketrzynski led all players with a whopping 24 kills on the night. The Lancers were led by Pierce Johnson and his 14 kills.
 
Nolan Langley again led all players in assists, setting up 36 of them. The Rams were paced by Gregory Vukets who had 31 assists.
 
Ryerson's Adam Sanderson was the best defensive player with 12 kills. The Lancers were led by Brad Gyemi who had nine digs.
 
GAME FLOW
Things got off to a tight start for both teams. The Lancers and Rams fought hard and matched each other early, going point for point through the first eight points. Windsor was running into trouble at the net as the Rams had six block assists and began to take a late lead. The Lancers fought back but lost the set 25-21 to go down 1-0 to the Rams.
 
In the second set the Lancers battled hard to edge their way out to a 13-10 lead. The Rams kept it tight, never letting the hosts extend their slim margin which never grew larger than four. The Rams used long rallies and timely offense to stay close, but the Lancers set themselves up well, taking the set 25-20 to tie the match at one.
 
It was all Windsor in the third. The blue and gold jumped out to an early lead and maintained it through the technical timeout, leading 16-12. Over the back end of the set the Lancers went on a 10-6 run to close out the set with help from a big performance by Pierce Johnson who had five kills in the set. The Lancers took a 2-1 set in the match with a 25-18 win in the third set.
 
In the fourth set the Lancers again jumped out to an early lead, 7-2 off some great defensive work at the net. The Rams tightened up their defense and found a little rhythm on offense to go on a little bit of a run, cutting into the Lancers lead before the technical timeout. Despite the run the Lancers held a 16-10 lead looking to close the game out. The Lancers indeed closed the game out with some great defense, 25-17, taking the match 3-1.
 
UP NEXT
Windsor hosts the University of Toronto at the St. Denis Centre Saturday night at 8:00pm.