The University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's volleyball team improved to 5-0 to begin their 2025-26 OUA campaign after securing an exciting five set road victory over the Waterloo Warriors on Friday (Nov. 14) night.

Set scores in the match were 21-25, 27-25, 25-23, 23-25, 15-13.

The contest proved to be an intense, five-set battle that saw multiple shifts in momentum. The Varsity Blues initially struggled, dropping the first set, but a dramatic rally in the second frame drew the teams even and quieted to Waterloo home crowd. However, another splitting of sets in the third and fourth forced the match to a decisive fifth set. Toronto ultimately prevailed in the tie-breaker, winning by just two points to keep their undefeated streak intact. As a team, Toronto managed 63 kills on 150 total attacks, concluding the match with an overall hitting percentage of .207.

U of T's offence was powered by second-year outside hitter Iannis Toma who more than doubled his previous single game career-high with 30.5 total points in the win. An unstoppable force from the right side, the 2024-25 OUA and U SPORTS all-rookie led the team with 26, while also adding three aces, one solo block, and one black assist. Also reaching double-digits in the five set victory was fifth-year outside hitters Maxime Gratton and Hunter Arulpragasam who finished with 18.5 and 14.5 points, respectively. Arulpragasam also tallied a team-high 13 digs.

Fourth-year setter Michael Hickey came one assist shy of matching his own career-high, directing the Blues offence with 56 total assists.

For the Warriors, five different players tallied 13 or more points in the hard fought five set match. Both Daniel Nikashov and Lucas Redmann tied for the team-high of 17.5 with Nikashov contributing 15 kills and Redmann impressing with nine block assists and 11 kills.

The Blues and Warriors will be right back in action at the PAC tomorrow (Nov. 15) afternoon with first serve set for 2:30 p.m. The contest can be streamed live and on-demand via oua.tv.