Written by Wells Mayes, Dalhousie Athletics
[Québec City, QC]–The Laval Rouge et Or beat the Dalhousie Tigers 3-1 (25-12, 21-25, 25-17, 27-25) on Saturday afternoon.
Laval were the quicker team out of the gate. Thanks to a block by Jonathan Addy (Montreal, QC) on Dalhousie's Lucas Condon-Oldreive (Halifax, NS), the Rouge et Or surged to a 6-point lead early in the set. A few minutes later, an excellent dig by Laval's Xavier Desfosses (Quebec City, QC) kept Laval alive in the point before the Tigers' Michael Donovan (London, ON) committed a net violation to hand the rally to the Quebec outfit. An ace from Max Losier (Ottawa, ON) wrapped up the first set for Laval by 25 points to 12.
In the second set, a pair of kills from Laval's Nicolas Fortin (Clermont, QC) opened the action. Midway through this clash, Dalhousie came alive as they stormed back to take their first lead of the game before an excellent joint block by Condon-Oldreive and first-year outside Jacob Oyler (Halifax, NS) put the set within striking distance.
After an excellent showing in the second set, Dalhousie faltered in the third. The Rouge et Or played clean volleyball as they nursed a small lead for most of this section of the match before pulling away thanks to some stellar play by their talisman Max Losier at the business end to take the set 25-17.
The fourth set of the match was a topsy-turvy affair. While it appeared like the fourth set would go the same way as the third, a resilient Dalhousie squad spearheaded by Dillan Morphet (Ancaster, ON) and Oyler showed tremendous fighting spirit to square the set at 22 points apiece. At this point, the teams traded points before a resounding block by Laval's Jonathan Girard and Fortin put the game to rest on the Rouge et Or's third match point.
Despite coming up short on the day, the Tigers' Jacob Oyler had an excellent outing. He led the team in the match with 14 kills, 10 digs and 17 points.
Laval gains their sixth win on the season after today's success, while Dalhousie suffers their sixth defeat.
Dalhousie will return to play in January, hosting undefeated Sherbrooke at Dalplex on January 12th at 8:00pm AST.
Laval will also host Sherbrooke next on December 1st at 7:30pm EST.