Huskies Men's Volleyball (2-5) were in tough on Saturday night (Nov 27) against the 2nd place Canadore Panthers (5-1) at the Casa Loma Athletic Centre. The home team ended up dropping the contest in three hard fought sets (19-25, 26-28, 22-25).
HOW IT HAPPENED: Although hamstrung by injuries and with limited roster depth, The Huskies were not tentative going into the game on Saturday, going point for point for the majority of the opening set until the Panthers pulled away with a closing rally to take it 25-19.
George Brown took to the floor in the 2nd set with just as much energy as the first, riding the high powered hitting of David Kiswa (1st Year) and Jason Huynh (2nd Year). After a few lead changes and come-from-behind rallies, the Huskies could not quite get over the hump in an entertaining frame, with Canadore squeaking out the extended set win by a score of 28-26.
Down 2-0, the Huskies kept up the fight and displayed resilience throughout the 3rd set, exchanging leads with the Panthers right up until the end. Even with the Huskies forcing the Panthers into 15 errors to their eight, Canadore's size and experience proved to be too much for the young Huskies squad, who eventually fell 25-22 in the set and 3-0 in the match.
Head Coach Sam Schachter (2nd Season) still sees a very positive light ahead, even with the loss. "We were really proud of our team's effort on Saturday night. Even though we are short handed again due to injuries, our team continues to battle well against some of the best teams in the league.", said the former Olympian, who knows what it is like to work through adversity and challenges. "Hopefully we can recover most of our roster for the second half of the year and use the experience our depth players are getting right now in key situations moving foward."
For Schachter, the playoffs are still a very viable goal for his team. "Our squad continues to grind out matches and continue with our 'next man up' mentality as we fight to get back into a playoff position. We certainly believe that if we can get into the postseason that we are a dangerous team, and have proven that we can compete with everyone."
UP NEXT: George Brown will close out the semester next Saturday December 3, 2022 on home court at 5pm versus the Seneca Sting. Can't make it person, catch all the live action on our Huskies Livestream Channel!
