The York Lions Men’s volleyball team won a silver medal at the 34th Excalibur Volleyball Classic Friday, Jan. 4, missing gold after a 3-1 defeat by the Ryerson University Rams at the Tait McKenzie Centre.
The Lions' silver-medal showing is an improvement over the bronze medal they won at the event one season ago. For the Rams, the title marks the third time the team has won the tournament in their program’s history, as Ryerson also won back-to-back gold medals in 2004 and 2005.
In the championship final, the Lions took an early lead in the match by winning an exciting first set by a score of 29-27. But the Rams took control from there and won the next three sets 25-15, 25-22 and 25-23 for the tournament victory.
Ryerson outside hitter Robert Wojcik of Whitby was named the tournament MVP, while teammates Alex Dawson of Scarborough, also an outside hitter, and setter Aleksa Miladinovic of Belgrade, Serbia, earned tournament all-star honours.
The Lions also had two players named to the tournament all-star team: outside hitters Marko Dakic of Mississauga and Daniel Dearing of Toronto.
Rounding out the all-star team were Windsor outside hitter Kyle Williamson of Essex and Western outside hitter Garrett May of Toronto.
Earlier in the day, the Windsor Lancers won the bronze medal with a 3-1 victory over the two-time defending champion Western Mustangs. After winning the first two sets 29-27 and 25-22, the Lancers let their guard down and allowed the Mustangs to cruise to the third set win, by a score of 25-14. But Windsor regained its composure in the fourth to take third place, winning the final set 25-19.
On the consolation side of the draw, Budo University from Japan finished in fifth place with a 3-2 (25-19, 23-25, 25-20, 25-27, 15-13) win over the Queen’s Gaels, and the Sherbrooke Vert et Or defeated the Memorial Sea-Hawks 3-1 (20-25, 25-15, 25-21, 25-17) in the seventh-place match.
Final Standings
1. Ryerson
2. York
3. Windsor
4. Western
5. Budo
6. Queen’s
7. Sherbrooke
8. Memorial
Tournament MVP
- Robert Wojcik (Ryerson)
Tournament All-Stars
- Marko Dakic (York)
- Alex Dawson (Ryerson)
- Daniel Dearing (York)
- Garrett May (Western)
- Aleksa Miladinovic (Ryerson)
- Kyle Williamson (Windsor)