The Windsor Lancers wrapped up their incredible season with an unfortunate loss to the Toronto Varsity Blues on Saturday afternoon in Hamilton.
The Blues defeated the Lancers 3-1 (26-28, 25-23, 17-25, and 12-25) in the 2023 U SPORTS consolation semi-final which would determine which team will play in the consolation final for fifth place overall on Sunday.
STATS
Zach Albert finished the match against his former team with 10 kills and one service ace leading the Lancers offensively for a second straight day.
Luca Nastase had 8 kills and a service ace in his solo effort in the fight against the Blues for the blue and gold.
Stephen Kary finished with 7 kills in his nationals tournament debut while rounding out strong performances was
Gustavo Siqueira who had 8 kills.
Defensively,
Steven Abrams dug up 15 balls while
Anthony DeGirolamo had 9 digs and dished out 35 assists in his final game with the blue and gold.
Toronto was led to victory by Mitchell Neuert who had 24 kills in the revenge win over Windsor who defeated the Blues back on March 4
th in the OUA semi-finals.
GAME FLOW
The first set saw both sides see-saw back and forth with strong volleyball coming out the gate keeping the fans entertained inside the Burridge Gymnasium at McMaster University.
Volleyball enthusiasts saw the blue and gold battle back from a midway mark deficit to the Blues who led 21-17 at one point before Windsor was able to generate some momentum to tie the score at 22-22 and overcome the Toronto held lead.
The opening set would then need extra points to determine a leader in the match. Windsor battled hard but ultimately dropped the first to the Blues who were able to take set number one 28-26 to go up 1-0.
The second set started out similar to the first with both sides trading points again. Windsor and Toronto met at a 12-12 deadlock before Toronto would take back the lead.
The Lancers would keep up the fight and push Toronto to the limit before closing out the second set on top 25-23 to the match at 1-1.
Set three began with Toronto holding control. Service errors haunted both sides but ultimately the Varsity Blues would regain their composure in their play to move past the Lancers again and go up 2-1 in the match.
The fourth set began with another balanced beginning before escalating to Toronto gaining the edge once more. The set would get ugly for Windsor with the Varsity accumulating points at a rapid pace. In the end, the Lancers would prove to be overwhelmed by a determined Varsity Blues squad on this date which would ultimately decide their fate with a 25-12 fourth set final score and 3-1 heartbreaking match loss to Toronto.
UP NEXT
With the loss Windsor will not play tomorrow and have officially concluded an overall successful 2022-23 campaign.
The Windsor Lancers would like to thank the entire Lancer family for their support of all Lancer athletics this season and hope to see you back out supporting again next year!
