SENECA 3, ALGONQUIN 1

It wasn't always pretty, but the Seneca Sting men's volleyball team improved to 3-0 on the young season with a four-set victory over the visiting Algonquin Thunder.

In the home opener for the Sting, the home crowd helped the team cruise through the first two sets until losing a close third. The Sting battled back to win the fourth set and keep their perfect record intact.

In the first set, Seneca jumped out to an early lead and maintained that lead throughout the set.  Algonquin put together a string of points on to see the Sting regain their lead. In the end, Seneca took the first set 25-21.

The second set was very similar to the first as Seneca methodically picked apart the Thunder defence, largely by Predrag Gajic. With setter Matt Handley leading quarterbacking the offence, Seneca took a commanding two sets to zero lead with a 25-19 set victory with the final point being scored on a rotation error by the Thunder.

In the third set, Algonquin looked poised to extend the match as they jumped out to a 14-9 lead.  The Thunder were stunned as Seneca reeled off nine consecutive points to take an 18-14 lead.  Not one to go away quietly, the Thunder fought back and pulled out the set by the slimmest of margins by a score of 25-23.

Learning from their letdown in the third set, Seneca kept their foot on the accelerator throughout the fourth set.  Every kill by the Thunder's Alex Oneid and Philippe Yeldon were not only answered, but exceeded by Gajic and Matt McGirr as Seneca closed out the match with a 25-20 set win.

Seneca's Gajic finished the match with 15 kills and five blocks while teammate McGirr had 11 kills. Libero Gabriel Harrietha had 10 digs defensively while Vladyslav Danyliuk contributed seven digs.

The Thunder were led offensively by Oneid who tied Gajic for the match high in kills with 15.  Yeldon finished with 12 kills, two aces and a block. Yeldon was the leader in digs for the Thunder with seven. Algonquin had a team approach to defence as nine players recorded at least one dig.

The Seneca Sting (3-0) will host the La Cité Coyotes (2-0) Saturday at 6 p.m. while the Algonquin Thunder (1-2) will travel to play Georgian (2-0) Saturday at 3 p.m.

Source: Seneca College