Men’s volleyball Wolves keep their winning streak against the Panthers

The Algonquin Wolves men’s volleyball team continued their winning streak on Nov. 4, beating the Canadore Panthers 3-0.

The stands at the Jack Doyle Recreation Centre were packed on both sides. The Wolves crowd stomped their feet and brought thunder to the gymnasium.

Starting out strong, the Wolves scored right away then started forcing the Panthers into errors and won the set 25-17.

The second set stayed tight until the halfway mark of 12 points. A loss of serve by the Panthers set the crowd wild and seemed to energize the Wolves.

“Last game we struggled with serving but tonight we took care of our serving much better this game and put the pressure on them,” said Mahmoud Abdelaziz, who was named the game MVP by the Wolves’ coaching staff.

A beautiful block by Martin Janega late in the set sealed the intensity level and the Wolves dominated the rest of the set for a 25-19 win.

“Martin (Janega) was a middle last year, but we’ve moved him to the right. Partner him with Connor Finnie up at the net and they’re going to get a lot of good points and blocks,” said Adbelaziz.

Not willing to back down easily, the Panthers began the second set with more fire in their game. The second set became a true fight between cat and dog. The combination of Abdelaziz and Jeff Commerford up front left the Panthers no chance.

After a hard fall on his back late in the second set, Malcolm Spence got up and continued to play and it lit a fire in his teammates. The Wolves won the set 25-19.

“Our intensity level was high. We really just did everything we planned to we were efficient and just did everything we needed to do to win,” said middle hitter Pras Jeyapalasingham.

With the gym echoing thunder, the Wolves were dominant in the third set. They wanted the win and forced the Panthers into a series of errors.

“Being efficient and executing our offence the way that we need to was key. We served well which put a lot of pressure on them and caused them to make a lot of minor mistakes,” said Wolves assistant coach Cory Wilcox.

“I think they felt quite a bit of pressure in their service game which translated to a lot of errors on their part.”

Wolf howls, noisemakers, drums, and feet stomping encouraged the Wolves and they steadily stayed far ahead of the Panthers for a 25-17 win in the third set.

“Today we came out with full execution right away and we talked about that going into this season too, work hard to be engaged right away. I think that’s a big part of the reason we won,” said Abdelaziz.

The Wolves are now 4-0 in the season. They play the George Brown Huskies and Centennial Colts in away games on Nov. 10 and Nov. 11.