Ray Szeto scored a game-high 25 points, Felipe Humana-Parades chipped in 18 to go along with a game-high three blocks, and the York University Lions men’s volleyball team clinched a berth in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) playoffs with a 3-2 win over the University of Guelph Gryphons on Saturday, Feb. 4 at the W.F. Mitchell Centre in Guelph.
The Lions also dominated in all offensive and defensive categories and had four different players reach double digits on the score sheet. Read full story on the Lions’ website.
The York Lions men’s volleyball team
The previous night, the Lions were topped by the University of Waterloo Warriors in straight sets at the Physical Activities Complex in Waterloo. The Lions kept each set close and got better as the match went on, but they were not able to keep the Warriors at bay long enough to build any sort of significant lead. The Warriors ultimately pulled out the match 25-19, 25-18, 25-20.
Second-year outside hitters Szeto and Nikola Sandic led all Lions with 11 points each, including 10 kills. Szeto also contributed three digs and two assisted blocks, while Sandic had two digs and a service ace. Read full story.
Women’s volleyball Lions defeat Warriors, clinch first place in OUA
The York University Lions women’s volleyball team clinched first place in the OUA East standings on Friday night (Feb. 3) with a straight-sets victory over the University of Waterloo Warriors at the Physical Activities Complex in Waterloo.
The win improved the Lions’ record to 14-1 on the year and they are assured of home court advantage throughout the playoffs.
Sophomore outside hitter Melissa Humana-Paredes continued her strong season with another impressive showing on the court. She led all players with 12 points, earned on 11 kills and one service ace, and added nine digs. Read full story.
The following day the team had its five-game winning streak come to an end with a 3-2 loss to the University of Guelph Gryphons at the W.F. Mitchell Athletic Centre in Guelph.
The Lions looked great early on in this match, dominating the first two sets 25-21, 25-13, but the Gryphons were able to turn things around in the third and eventually pulled off the unlikely upset. They closed by winning the last three sets 25-22, 25-22, 15-11. Read full story.
Women’s basketball Lions hang on to defeat Lady Vees in low-scoring thriller
The York University Lions women’s basketball team came close to squandering a nine-point lead at halftime with a rough third quarter but managed to hang on to defeat the Laurentian University Lady Vees by a score of 50-49 on Friday, Feb. 3 at Tait McKenzie Centre.
Samantha Ernest scored a team-high 10 points in the win and led the Lions in offensive rebounds with four. Brittany Szockyj was held to eight points on the night, but seven of those points came in the fourth quarter when it counted most. She more than made up for her quiet night on offence with a game-high four steals.
With the win, the Lions improve to 7-11 on the season and clinched a playoff spot. They currently remain in sixth place in the OUA East with 14 points, eight points ahead of the Lady Vees (3-15) with just four games remaining. Friday’s win also snapped a five-game losing streak for the Lions dating back to mid-January. Read full story.
14 medals for track and field Lions at 41st annual York Open
The York University Lions track and field team earned 14 top-three finishes at the 41st annual York Open on Saturday, Feb. 4 at the Toronto Track and Field Centre.
Of the 14 podium finishes, three were for gold medals, all won by the women’s team. Throws specialist Cynthia Appiah earned two gold medals on the day, in the shot put and the weight throw. Her performance in the shot put resulted in a new personal-best distance of 14.75 metres, and she recorded a season best in the weight throw with a distance of 17.38 metres. Both distances qualified her for the CIS championships in March, and she is now ranked No. 1 in the CIS in both events.
Appiah’s teammates Kristin Obrochta and Elizabeth Petrov each finished behind her in one of the throws events. Obrochta won the silver medal in the weight throw and earned a seventh-place finish in the shot put, while Petrov was second in the shot put. Read full story.
Boyd scores two as women’s hockey Lions top Badgers
Dallas Boyd scored her second and third goals of the season to lead the York University Lions women’s hockey team to a 5-1 victory over the Brock University Badgers at Canlan Ice Sports on Sunday, Feb. 5.
Boyd scored York’s third goal of the game late in the second period to increase the Lions lead to 3-1 and extended the lead to 4-1 mid-way through the third period with a power play marker.
The Lions’ top two scorers on the year continued to lead the team in this game as Katrina Tollis and Kristie Wilson each notched their 11th goals of the season early in the game. Tollis scored the opener at 16:51 of the first period to give the Lions an early 1-0 lead and Wilson scored what turned out to be the game winner at 10:47 of the second, nine minutes after the Badgers had tied the game on a power play. Read full story.
The win came one day after the Lions surrendered four unanswered goals, three in the first period alone, and were unable to recover in a 5-2 loss to the No. 6 nationally-ranked University of Guelph Gryphons. Read full story.
Tough second half buries men’s basketball Lions against Voyageurs
The York University Lions men’s basketball team played a great first half of basketball and found itself down by just eight points at halftime against one of the top teams in its division, but things would go south in the final two quarters and they went on to lose to the Laurentian University Voyageurs by a score of 108-78 on Friday, Feb. 3 at Tait McKenzie Centre.
Manny Pasquale led the Voyageurs in scoring with 26 points and three steals. David Tyndale matched Pasquale’s performance with 26 points and three steals to lead the Lions, followed by Aaron Rados with 17 points, 15 of which came from beyond the arc, where he hit 71 per cent of his shots on the night. Read full story.