The Algonquin Thunder men’s volleyball team blundered losing three sets to none against the Canadore Panthers on Nov. 2.
The men came into the first set with high energy hoping to prevail as they lost their previous game against the George Brown Huskies, however, their liveliness wasn’t enough losing 25-18.
When the second set began, Richard Bucar made a kill and scored a point for the Thunder but afterwards was quickly cut short leaving everyone – both teams and crowd – wondering what went wrong.
The game was paused for over five minutes with both teams deliberating with the referees and officials.
Head coach, Jelle Kooijman, wrote down wrong numbers for Algonquin’s lineup that was not caught by the down official. At that point, players were called out of rotation, but the set did not restart.
“The correct decision would’ve been to replay the set right at the beginning with the lineup that I gave them,” said Kooijman. “They did not, so there was a lot of confusion about what was going on and what is going to happen. In the end it got resolved and we were able to continue playing but it was a confusing situation.”
It was a long, gruelling set as the score matched up 24-24. Every time the Thunder thought they had a lead, the Panthers inched right behind them.
The second set was a close loss with a score of 29-27.
Pressure was on for the men to win the third set. The Thunder started off strong by consecutively getting five kills, but they ultimately lost the game with a score of 25-21.
Although losing the game, coach Kooijman is hopeful for the team’s future and will continue to work hard.
“We go on runs, we have moments where we’re better than our opponent and we’re not able to do that consistently,” said Kooijman. “So we gotta get back into the gym and work hard to make sure that we can execute those skills to a high level every time.”
The Algonquin Thunder is set to play against the La Cité Coyotes on Nov. 6.