The Centennial Men's Volleyball team is back at home, and they now have the chance for redemption after losing their first game of the season last week. The challenge is equally demanding: they will host the currently undefeated top-seated team, the Georgian Grizzlies, this Tuesday, November 12th, at 8:00 p.m.
The Colts have had a good season overall, only dropping one game so far, enough for second place in the East Division. Despite the setback, the Scarborough team seems to still be hungry, as mentioned by the first-year left-side, Ruslan Delawar. "It is not about the loss, but about how we react to it. Results do not define who we are," finished the rookie.
The fourth-year captain, Pedro Casellatto, agreed: "To play a team like Georgian, which is always up in the rankings, we need to clear our minds from any other possible distraction and make sure we bring out our best volleyball." The Colts currently hold the second position, just behind the Grizzlies. An eventual win to the home team would agitate the dispute for the lead of the league between these two teams for the second year in a row.
The Grizzlies have added many new names to their roster, some of them already known in the league and others who are having their first OCAA experience. This new team, however, has been performing well and has not yet found an opponent able to take them down. Just like the Colts, the Grizzlies have a good defensive presence, and the first tool is, as the books say, serving. On the visitors' side, the third-year left-side, Ryan Vreizma, will be the one to challenge the Colts' compact serve-receive line, coming out for this game with 0.77 aces per set.
It will be a game between two very similar teams in terms of strategy. It will come down to which one of them shows up more prepared for this challenge. As voiced by the Colts' first-year middle blocker, Nolan Tuck, "it is a good opportunity to show what our team's energy looks like, especially after last week's game."
Make sure to come out to Progress Campus AWC to support the Colts as they are back at home looking to get back on the winning streak. The game will also be live-streamed at COLTSNET on YouTube.
By: Pedro Casellatto