It was a nail-biter in Ottawa as the Algonquin Thunder men’s volleyball team came away with a 15-13 win in the fifth set over the Loyalist Lancers this Saturday evening.
After a shaky first set that saw the Thunder lose 17-25, the team was able to string two straight wins before losing the fourth to force the deciding set.
Thomas Cullingworth, the Thunder’s point leader of the night with 11 points, knew his team had the right mindset to finish off a tight match.
“We were very confident going into that fifth set,” Cullingworth said. “It was a little too close for comfort, but we were definitely confident about it.”
The team’s confidence, combined with a balanced attack that saw multiple players score their fair share of points, led the Thunder through Saturday’s win – their second in a row.
The Thunder’s head coach, Mohamed Shaheen, gave the Lancers a lot of credit for their resiliency and hard work, but attributed the close match to an abundance of self-inflicted errors that could come back to haunt his team in the long run.
“All the games are finals and we need to treat them as finals,” Shaheen said. “If we play with all of these mistakes and errors against a little bit stronger team, we will struggle a lot. We need to control our side of the game, then we will find it slightly easier than we did today.”
The men’s volleyball team will be looking to extend their winning streak to three games when they host the Canadore Panthers on Friday, Jan. 25 at 8 p.m.
GAME RECAP
Set 1: 17-25 L
Set 2: 25-23 W
Set 3: 25-20 W
Set 4: 23-25 L
Set 5: 15-13 W