When it comes to men's volleyball, defence will only take you so far. It's the power game which is going to produce wins. On Saturday afternoon at the Newnham Gym, Predrag Gajic brought all of his power and some as he helped the Seneca Sting win in straight sets over the Cambrian Golden Shield.
Gajic's serving was nearly unstoppable all afternoon as he recorded eight aces including a number of other hard serves which put the Golden Shield on the defensive.
The opening set of the match was the closest of the three, as the teams battled back and forth, looking for an advantage which would propel their team to victory. With Seneca leading midway through the set, Gajic took over at the net offensively along with Will Oyetakin. Seneca took the set 25-21.
The second set was all Seneca and all Gajic. The fourth-year left side at one point scored three consecutive aces to give the Sting a big lead they would not relinquish. At times, Cambrian looked helpless trying to return the hard spin serve of Gajic as returns went off the side of their arms or straight into the ceiling. Seneca won the second set 25-11 to take a commanding two sets to none lead.
With a number of the starters on the bench for the third set, Seneca did not miss a beat. Gabe Harrietha, setting for Matt Handley, controlled the offence as Gajic, Oyetakin and Vladyslav Danyliuk provided the Sting with an early four-point lead. Cambrian would never close the gap to less than three after the midway point as Seneca rolled to a 25-19 set win.
Seneca's balanced offence saw Gajic (8), Oyetakin (7), Danyliuk (6), Jordan Darlington (5) and Matt McGirr (4) all make contributions in the kills department. Gajic was the only Sting to record an ace as he had eight while Daniel Tran had five digs.
Cambrian was led by Chris Chedore who had six kills. Dakota Campbell added three aces for the Golden Shield while three members (Michael Wandziak, Chedore and Campbell) all had three digs.
The Seneca Sting (11-1) will travel to play the Trent Excaliber (2-8) next Saturday at 8 p.m. while the Cambrian Golden Shield (1-10) will host Algonquin (8-3) next Saturday at 2 p.m.
Source: Seneca College