York Lions settle for fourth place

Victoria Alarcon
Sports & Health Editor
The game of volleyball is a tricky thing.
Players must be fast on their feet, with a quick reaction to every ball, but more importantly, they have to be mentally ready to play the game.
A player’s success can depend on how much they want to win, and how far they’re willing to go.

Take, for example, the 32nd annual Excalibur Classic tournament, where eight university volleyball teams competed for the gold medal prize Dec. 28 through Dec. 30.
York’s men’s volleyball team won both their matches on the first day, including a match against the Windsor Lancers, a team tied for fifth in the Ontario University Athletics standings (OUA).
York broke the second they were dealt a challenge: the Western Mustangs. The team’s journey for the gold ended in four sets when the team was outplayed 3-1 and York was left empty-handed once again.
It looked as if all the confidence the team had built withered away the second the Western Mustangs stepped onto the court.
“We lost the drive to fight,” said assistant coach Hernan Humana.
“We didn’t fight hard enough and they are a great team. You have to play very well to beat them.”
The energy from the first day was gone, and the team played with serves that never made it over the net or flew right past the opponent’s line. The Lion’s accuracy was poor, as many balls were grounded out of bounds and deflected right off of Western’s line-up.
It felt completely different than it had the first day of the tournament, when the team was soaring on consistent serves and kills by first- year players Ray Szeto and Nikola Sandic; the atmosphere was electric, the blocks were strong, the setting was organized and their passes were quick.
But the Lions that pummelled the Windsor Lancers were not the same Lions struggling against Western. What the crowd got that day, Dec. 29, was a team who looked intimidated by the figures of veteran Western players Garrett May and Mathew Waite.
It was especially noticeable in the first set, when the Mustangs went up five points in a row while York’s score stayed the same.
“We weren’t lucky enough I guess – it just wasn’t happening for us. Some days we have bad days and some days we have good days,” said Szeto, a rookie who leads his team with the most kills so far this season.
Consistency has always been a problem for the team: one second the team is dominating and the next second they’re fighting to win the set. It’s a huge area on which the York Lions will have to improve if the team wants to ever make it to OUA playoffs this year.
It was this lack of consistency that likely damaged the Lions’ chances in the bronze medal match that followed; in that Dec. 30 match, York went on to play the Windsor Lancers once again, but came up short in the moments that counted, losing 3-1.
This year’s tournament results may have been disappointing, but York has come a long way from when the players first started in the year, and the Lions have made vast improvements in numerous areas.
In the last six years of the Excalibur Classic, for instance, York didn’t make it to the semi-finals, and obtained a ranking of either seventh or dead last out of the eight teams. That the Lions were able to beat a team like the Windsor Lancers, to whom they lost a previous match 3-0 in sets that were as far apart as 25-13, shows they’ve definitely changed for the better.
York still has a long way to go, and it’s not going to be easy improving on the two-wins-and-eight-losses record that’s plagued the team thus far; however, the team has potential, and what the tournament showed was that they definitely have the mental capability to surpass any team in the OUA standings. The question is: will they be mentally prepared enough to make the OUA playoffs?
The Western Mustangs went on to win the three-day tournament after a tight 3-1 battle, destroying the University of New Brunswick Reds (26-28, 25-14, 25-17, 25-22). This is the Mustangs’ first Excalibur Classic title.
Final standings of the 32nd annual Excalibur classic
1st
Western Mustangs
2nd
New Brunswick Reds
3rd
Windsor Lancers
4th
York Lions
5th
Budo University
6th
Sherbrooke Vert et Or
7th
Montreal Carabins and Ryerson Rams
Upcoming games
Volleyball
Men’s Volleyball Western Mustangs vs. York Lions Saturday, January 8 2011 2 pm
Women’s Volleyball Western Mustangs vs. York Lions Saturday, January 8 2011 12 pm
Men’s Volleyball Windsor Lancers vs. York Lions Sunday, January 9 2011 6 pm
Women’s Volleyball Windsor Lancers vs. York Lions Sunday, January 9 2011 4 pm
Hockey
Women’s Ice Hockey Brock Badgers vs. York Lions Saturday, January 8 2011 7 pm
Men’s Ice Hockey Waterloo Warriors vs. York Lions Sunday, January 9 2011 7 pm
Basketball
Men’s Basketball RMC Paladins vs. York Lions Friday, January 7 2011 8 pm
Women’s Basketball RMC Paladins vs. York Lions Friday, January 7 2011 6 pm