By: Kajan Thiruthanikasalam
SCARBOROUGH, ONT. - The Centennial Colts were hoping to put an end to what has been a lengthy losing streak against the two win Loyalist Lancers.
However, it was not meant to be as the home team fell in straight sets (21-25, 20-25, 20-25) to the Lancers to drop to 2-12 on the season as their losing streak has now reached double digits with 10.
It looked like the Colts were on the right track as they took an early three point lead in the first set (13-10). But the Lancers responded with eight unanswered points and took the set, 25-21.
Javed Baksh, Timothy Ho, and Jason Fillion each had three points in the second set as it was back and forth between the two squads but a kill from Seguin sparked five straight points from Loyalist to break an 18-all tie as the Lancers' Jeremy Driedger had three aces in a row during that run. The visitors eventually took the second set, 25-20.
Baksh had a strong third set offensively with a pair of blocks and aces each as an ace from Jordan Nnabuogor gave the Colts a 13-11 lead, leading to a Lancers timeout. However, Loyalist then slowly ate away at Centennial's lead and moved ahead, not looking back as they ended the match with a score of 25-20.
Centennial were in it with Loyalist in each set but their inability to stop Loyalist's lengthy runs proved to be costly.
LEADING SCORERS AND TEAM STATS
Caleb Seguin was the only player from both sides that scored in double figures. The Lancer scored 11 points on eight kills and three blocks, which were both game highs.
Baksh led Centennial with seven points on three aces, three blocks, and a kill while also dishing a game high 19 assists.
Despite the edge in digs (38-30) and assists (21-19), Centennial were beat in kills (25-23) and service aces (7-5).
CATCH OUR NEXT GAME
The Colts look to end their losing streak as they head to Oshawa, Ont., to face off against the one win Durham Lords on Saturday afternoon at 3:00pm.