Traveling to St. Catharines on Sunday (Oct. 22) afternoon, the University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's volleyball team dropped a 3-2 preseason match versus the Brock Badgers.

Continuing preparations for the 2023-24 OUA campaign, the Blues battled hard in the five-set exhibition match, finishing with set scores of 25-21, 16-25, 15-25, 27-25, 13-15.

Leading the offence was third-year outside hitter Connor Vanderkuip who tallied a team-high 15 points from 12 kills, one service ace, and four block assists. Both third-year outside hitter Jack Li and first-year middle Caleb Mahabir also reached double-digit points in the contest finishing with 12.5 and 11, respectively.

Pacing the Blues attack was second-year setter Michael Hickey who registered 38 total assists through all five sets, while the commerce student also led the defence with a team-high eight digs.

Closing in on the start of the new season, the Blues will complete their preseason schedule this coming weekend with a pair of matches at the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport. Toronto will first face the Waterloo Warriors on Friday, Oct. 27, before welcoming the Badgers to the U of T home court the next day (Oct. 28). First serve for the Friday night contest is set for 7:30 p.m., followed by an afternoon rematch versus Brock set for 4 p.m. Tickets for the preseason tilts can be purchased at varsityblues.ca/tickets.