Status confirmed: Edge Gaels

Waterloo men’s volleyball defeats OUA champions, Queen’s Gaels on Saturday night; keeps the Warriors perfect at 5-0

The University of Waterloo men’s volleyball team may not be unstoppable, but they haven’t found a team that can stop them yet. The Warriors remained perfect after their home opener weekend and currently sit second in the OUA.

Currently ranked 10th in the country, the Warriors confirmed that they are among the best in CIS with a pair of weekend victories.

The Warriors defeated the RMC Paladins and the Queen’s Gaels en route to another perfect weekend.

 Waterloo met RMC first in their home opener at PAC. The game, as part of the Think Pink Campaign at UW, had plenty of side festivities. But that did little to distract the Warriors, who were on the better side from the opening serve onwards against a team currently at the wrong end of the OUA standings. 

The Warriors won in straight sets 25–14, 25–13, 25–10, and there was never any doubt as to which team was going to emerge victorious.

RMC put up a good fight; they met the Warriors’ talent with plenty of hard work and determination. However, the Paladins rarely made Waterloo sweat as the Warriors’ technical prowess was put on clear display throughout the match.

Waterloo was able to use wide attacks very effectively against RMC, who often times had no answer for the Warriors’ quick and lethal attacks.

Aleks Poldma led the attack for the Warriors with nine kills but also played a key role defensively, registering four digs and two assisted blocks. Meanwhile, Sergey Grabovsky was excellent as well adding six kills and a team leading seven digs. 

The Warriors continued their home stand on Saturday against the Queen’s Gaels, last year’s OUA champions.

With the match came a chance for Waterloo to prove themselves one of the best in the country.

Not only did the Warriors confirm their talent, they did so emphatically.  Waterloo was clinical once again as they topped Queen’s  25–17, 15–25, 25–19, 25–19.

The majority of the match was fairly close between the two sides, but it was the Warriors who performed the finishing necessary to claim victory.

The first and fourth sets saw Waterloo seize victory by putting together a string of points after relatively even play from both sides.

The only setback for the Warriors was in the second set. Waterloo showed little of what had made them successful during the rest of the match, and Queen’s took advantage, taking the set 25–15.

The game was full of standout performances from the Warriors.  Jordan Dyck continued his stellar season putting up 11 kills and adding three assisted blocks.

Tyler Motherwell was the perfect compliment, adding 10 kills and leading the team with five assisted blocks.

Setter Scott Thomson orchestrated the offence adding 43 assists to the 184 he has put up throughout the season.

Meanwhile, Erich Woolley was central to the defence with 14 digs, a category in which he is fifth in the country.

The weekend proved that if any team has an answer for the Warriors’ balanced attack, Waterloo has yet to meet them.

The next big test for the Warriors will come Sunday, Nov. 17 when they take on the McMaster Marauders, a team who have yet to lose a set in OUA play. The day before, they will meet York Lions in Toronto.