NORTH YORK, Ont. - For two sets, it appeared that the Seneca Sting would get the proverbial monkey off their back and get their first win of the season. In a sudden turn of events, the Georgian Grizzlies stormed back, winning the final three sets to steal victory from the Sting in their home opener.
It was a perfect storyline. Young team starts season on the road, struggles against stiff competition, comes home to a warm welcome and builds confidence in a comfortable environment.
That's how the story seemed to go for the first two sets. The Seneca Sting stormed out of the gate, winning the first set 25-21 to the delight of the home crowd.
Building on that momentum, the Sting played some of their best volleyball on the young season in the second set. Jumping out to an early lead, a pair of timeouts by the Grizzlies couldn't slow down the Sting as they cruised to a 25-14 win and 2-0 lead in the match.
The tides turned in the third set.
As great as the Sting looked in the first two sets, they looked equally poor in the third and fourth sets. The Sting struggled passing the ball and committed a slew of unforced errors. Had it not been for a series of missed Georgian serves, the scores would have been more lopsided. The Grizzlies evened the match up with set wins of 25-15 and 25-12.
In the match finale, the Sting jumped out to a 3-0 lead before giving up six consecutive points. Failing to close the lead to fewer than two, the Sting fell in the final set.
Jordan Darlington (Ajax) led the Sting with 14 kills on just 25 attempts. David Lyon (Bangkok, Thailand) had 12 kills and eight digs. Patrick Asuncion (Scarborough) had 27 assists while Toms Gaikis (Toronto) led the team with 11 digs.
The Sting will host the Canadore Panthers on Saturday at 4 p.m. while the Grizzlies return home to host the Panthers on Sunday at 2 p.m.
Source: Seneca College
NORTH YORK, Ont. - The Georgian Grizzlies men's and women's volleyball teams each extended their winning streaks to three games in dramatic fashion Wednesday night when they visited the Seneca Sting in North York.
After dropping their first set 25-22, the Grizzlies women's team went on a mission not to drop another coming back with impressive set wins of 25-13, 25-13 and 25-16 to take the match 3-1.
Second-year middle Allison Marshall (Orillia) had arguably her best game of the year leading the team with a season-high 14 points, including five blocks. Hannah Campbell (Midland) and Erin McClean (Barrie) each had a team-high nine kills in the victory.
The women's team now has a 4-1 record on the season and are currently sitting in second place in the OCAA East Division standings.
On the men's side the Grizzlies had a tough start of their own.
Falling behind with a less than inspiring effort, Georgian dropped the first two sets 25-21 and 25-14 putting themselves in a big hole.
From there the Grizzlies came together as a group rallying from the deficit with set wins of 25-15 and 25-12 setting up a fifth set tiebreak for the match.
Georgian kept the momentum going taking the fifth and deciding set 15-12 to come all the way back from two sets down to claim a 3-2 victory.
Lyndon Sonego led the team with 22 points while Michael Vandinther had 15 digs as both players from Barrie continued their strong starts to the season.
The Grizzlies now sit in fifth place in a very tight OCAA East Division with a 3-2 record.
Both teams will be back in action on Sunday when they face another tough opponent in the Canadore Panthers (third place women's/sixth place men's). The games will be part of a special triple header at the Georgian Athletic Centre with the women's game at 12 p.m., the men's at 2 p.m. and a men's basketball game at 4:30 p.m.
Source: Georgian College