The No. 5 nationally ranked University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's volleyball team fell 3-1 to the visiting Western Mustangs on Friday (Feb. 13) night at Goldring Centre – Kimel Family Field House.

Set scores were: 22-25, 25-22, 20-25, 20-25.

Following a slow start that saw U of T drop the first set, the Blues were able to bounce back in the second set. In their victorious set, the Blues notched a .375 hitting percentage and had 19 kills to Western's 11. In the third and fourth sets, Western had five blocks to Toronto's three and were able to garner momentum as the Blues dropped just their second match of the season.

Leading the way for the Blues was fifth-year outside hitter Maxime Gratton who had a game-high 22 points on a .410 hitting percentage. The Ottawa native notched 21 kills and nine digs in the match. Fellow fifth-year standout Hunter Arulpragasam was second in command with 18 points and 16 digs. Second-year middle Luka Minic had a game-high four solo blocks while fourth-year setter Michael Hickey garnered 46 assists.

For Western, outside hitter Cade Smith had a team-high 14.5 points. Meanwhile, Cameron McGregor and Jayden Talsma each had 13.5 points. Nicolas Silon also reached the double digit point plateau with 10 points in the match.

The Varsity Blues will host the Mustangs inside Goldring Centre once again tomorrow (Feb. 14) afternoon for their OUA regular season finale. First serve is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Tickets for the final home game of the regular season are available at varsityblues.ca/tickets, while all Varsity Blues home volleyball matches are streamed live and on-demand on oua.tv.