Wolves men’s volleyball team sustains Huskies’ late-game rally to secure victory

The Algonquin Wolves men’s volleyball team powered past the George Brown Huskies with a 3-1 victory on Nov. 15, delivering a commanding performance that thrilled the home crowd.

The Wolves started the game slow with serves going out of bounds but easily gained the advantage due to the glaring size difference between the towering Wolves and the noticeably smaller Huskies. The Wolves hammered the middle players of the George Brown team.

Through the first and second sets the Wolves maintained control and established a pace that the Huskies could not match.

With the stands of the Jack Doyle Athletic and Recreation Centre populated with Wolves fans, the team was able to make adjustments to counter anything the Huskies had in store for them. Wolves fans tried knocking George Brown players off their game, even by calling out to the Huskies players.

“We have a very versatile roster. I’d say that we have a very good cohesion with each other, and we have a roster where we could shuffle the lineups however we want and we could still have a pretty good strong competitive lineup. So, that advantage helps us when someone’s not playing as well or someone needs a little bit of a break,” said Wolves outside hitter Julien Tran.

Set three was a different story. The Huskies rallied and the game slowed down as each team tried to capitalize on the other mistakes. The game boiled down to a tense affair.

George Brown responded with resilience in the third set, tightening their defence and forcing mistakes from the Wolves. The Huskies’ adjustments paid off as they levelled the match and momentarily halted Algonquin’s momentum. After a few tense serves, the Huskies were able to claw the third set away from the Wolves.

Tran described his approach to handling tense moments in a match.

“Just a mindset that I’m ready and I’m willing to give everything that I have on the court,” said Tran. “If everyone can focus on their own job on the court during a rally, it helps overall rather than thinking of personally about myself it is more of, how can I give this to the most? How can I give my team the win?”

Each rally was hard-fought, with players diving for saves, and contesting the net and playing for each other.

In the closing moments, the Wolves broke free, sealing the set and the match with decisive plays that left the home crowd roaring with support.

The team was able to stop the Huskies’ momentum and take the victory, boosting the Wolves’ season record to 2-6.

“I am here for the guys mostly. I just love the sport, I love the guys, I love the chemistry. I think part of my role in my goal is to become a better person and better leader, better mentor for some of the younger guys and hopefully leave this team in a better place,” said Wolves outside hitter Victor Landry.

The team hopes to carry this positive energy and play into the rest of the season.

“We got to keep pushing we got to show everyone that this was not just one off and that we can do this every single game,” said Wolves head coach Jelle Kooijma.

The Wolves were scheduled to play the Fleming Phoenix the following day.