Tigers fall to Laval in home opener

By Ryan Hyndman

The Dalhousie Tigers men's volleyball team opened their RSEQ season on Friday night against the Laval Rouge et Or.

The match began with the teams alternating points to 3-3, until Laval was able to break through for an early 7-3 lead in the first set. The lead was then extended to 9-4 thanks to a big block from Jonathan Girard (Donnacona, QC). As the set progressed, Laval would improve the score to 18-12 before Derrick Ejeckam (Gander, NL) scored a massive kill for Dalhousie, sparking a two point run to make it 18-14. The Tigers would get it as closer to a four-point gap, but Laval was able to close out the first set strong, with a score of 25-17.

The Tigers started the second set off strong, quickly getting off to a 3-to-1 point lead. Laval would respond, tying it up at 4-4 off a block from Pierre-Olivier Thibault (​​Delson, QC). The Tigers would take their next lead at 7-6 after Josh DeYoung (Halifax, NS) was able to get the ball to drop over the Laval defenders. The lead would be short lived as Laval stormed back to tie it at 9-9 off an ace from Max Losier (Ottawa, ON). The Rouge et Or would then put together their first significant lead of the second set as it reached 18-13, capped off by an ace from Miro Gagné-Pelletier (Moncton, NB). Laval would finish the set with the same six-point differential, taking the second set 25-19 and go up 2-0.

Needing a set win, the Tigers came out strong to a 6-4 lead, finished by Michael Donovan (London, ON), off a hard dig from DeYoung. The teams would then go back and forth through several lead changes all the way up to 13-13. A great block from Ejeckam saw the Tigers retake the lead at 15-14. The set would remain extremely tight with Dalhousie holding the one-point lead all the way up to 19-18. Laval would not go away though, fighting to retake the lead at 21-20. Justin Cross (Winnipeg, MB) for the Tigers was not ready to let the match end yet, converting on a kill to restore the one-point lead at 22-21. The set required extra points with the Tigers leading 25-24, when a kill from Donavon secured the set for Dalhousie to force a fourth set.

Much like the previous sets, the fourth began with the teams trading points up to 5-5. The Tigers, pushing to get the match tied, took their first multi-point lead at 11-8, capped off by a kill from Lucas Condon-Oldreive (Halifax, NS). The Tigers would carry the 4-point advantage up to 17-13 before Laval began to close the gap to two points. However, it would not last long as the Tigers stormed back to a 22-18 lead. On set point, a huge block by Cross saw Dalhousie erase the two-set deficit and force a fifth and final set.

Laval came out firing for the final set, jumping out to a 6-1 lead. Keeping up the momentum, the Rouge et Or grew the lead to seven making the score 12-5. The Tigers would be able to cut the lead to four points, but that is as close as they would get as Laval would close it out by a score of 15-9. Coming so close to completing the comeback, Dalhousie would drop their home opener 3-2.

Nicolas Doucet took home the play of the game honours for Laval. Donovan had a team high 19 kills for the Tigers followed closely by Josh DeYoung with 10 kills.

The Rouge et Or will look to continue in the win column and the Tigers will look to bounce back when both of the teams meet again tomorrow, Saturday, October 22 at 2:00pm.