The University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's volleyball team has high expectations heading into the 2020 OUA Final Four, March 6-7, at McMaster University.
 
The Blues take on the Guelph Gryphons in semifinal action on Friday night at 5:30 p.m., while the host Marauders take on the Queen's Gaels in a rematch of last year's OUA final at 8 p.m.
 
The semifinal winners not only advances to the Forsyth Cup gold-medal match, but also automatically advance to the 2020 U SPORTS championship, March 13-15, at the University of Manitoba.  Saturday's bronze-medal match will also have national implications, as the top three teams from the OUA will head to Winnipeg. All four matches will be streamed live on OUA.tv. 
 
Toronto will be vying for both their first OUA title and first U SPORTS national championship berth since the 2003-04 season.
 
The No. 6 nationally-ranked Blues finished atop the OUA East division with a provincial-best 17-1 record. U of T defeated the Brock Badgers, 3-1, in quarter-final action to earn their second straight OUA Final Four appearance.
 
TORONTO VS GUELPH: The Blues defeated the Gryphons 3-1 (25-22, 25-20, 25-27, 25-23) in their lone meeting of the regular season on Nov. 24.
 
Toronto's fluid attack is fueled by senior Jordan Figueira, a talented setter who racked up 9.5 assists per set, good for second in the conference. In addition to pacing the OUA in total assists (744), the well-rounded Blues were also tops in kills (797) and digs (663), and second in hitting percentage (2.70).
 
Second-year outside hitter Evan Falardeau was a problem for opponents, ranking fourth in the OUA in kills per set at 3.57. But Toronto can defend as well as it attacks and the catalyst on that front is junior libero Daniel Tudor. Tudor showed his willingness to sacrifice defensively all season by registering 167 digs, which ranked him second in the conference with 2.49 digs per set.
 
Guelph punched their ticket to the Final Four following a dominant 3-0 quarter-final win over the Ryerson Rams (25-21, 25-20, 25-19).
 
Third-year left side Zarko Ubiparip led the Gryphons offensively, ranking sixth in the OUA with 194 kills. Another key piece of the Gryphon puzzle is Ben Kissack, a third-year libero who led the OUA in digs with 169. Defence is an important part of what the team does, evidenced by the fact that it also topped the league in solo blocks with 94.
 
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