Fifth-year veteran Chris Towe led all players with 19 points as the No. 7 University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's volleyball team defeated the Western Mustangs 3-2 (25-16, 25-23, 22-25, 22-25, 15-9) on Saturday, February 1 at Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport.
 
With the win, the Blues improve to 11-1 and remain atop the OUA East division.
 
TORONTO STATS: Towe notched a game-high 18 kills and added one ace and five digs on the day. Sophomore standout Evan Falardeau had 16 points off of 13 kills, two aces and one block, while rookie middle Benedikt Licht had 11 points off of eight kills and three blocks. Fellow first-year middle Jasper Neale recorded nine points off of seven kills and two blocks as well.
 
Fourth-year setter Jordan Figueira tallied 44 assists and 13 digs, while third-year libero Daniel Tudor had a game-high 17 digs in the win.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED: The first sent went back and forth before the Blues pulled ahead to take a 16-11 advantage into the technical timeout. U of T continued to press and took a 1-0 match lead, 25-18.
 
The second set was much of the same in the early goings, with both teams trading points, tied up at 8-8 and Western holding a 16-15 lead at the tech timeout. The Mustangs were up 23-21 but Toronto battled back with four straight points to win it 25-23.
 
The Mustangs got out to a dominant 9-3 lead in the third set but the Blues chipped away at the lead and were only down by four (16-12) at the tech timeout. U of T came back to tie it at 19-19, but Western closed it out to force a fourth set, 25-22.
 
The fourth set proved to be another game of catch-up for the Blues as Western got out to a 16-8 advantage. Toronto again battled back and were within two, but Western held on for the second straight 25-22 win.
 
The Blues held a narrow 8-7 lead at the fifth-set switch and restored their dominance to end the match on a 7-2 run to secure their 11th win of the season.
 
UP NEXT: U of T hosts the Windsor Lancers tomorrow (Feb. 2) at Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport. Opening serve is set for 3 p.m.
 
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