University of Toronto

The University of Toronto women’s volleyball team continues to ride an incredible ’sweep streak’ and led a solid weekend for the Varsity Blues which also included some great results for women’s hockey, track and field, and swimming.

With 3-0 victories over RMC and Queen’s, the women’s volleyball squad (16-1, 1st OUA East) has now won 10 straight matches, including seven straight 3-0 sweeps and has now reeled off an amazing 23 straight set victories. To close out their home schedule, Asya Danilova earned 26 kills in the six sets of action, while Mila Miguel chipped in with 17.

The men’s volleyball team (9-7, 6th OUA) got back in the win column on Saturday with a convincing 3-0 sweep of visiting RMC. Brendan Peel buried 16 kills in the victory. The Varsity Blues stumbled on Saturday to a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Queen’s Golden Gaels. U of T will have a chance for their tenth win on Wednesday at Ryerson, before returning for their regular season home finale on Sunday at the Athletic Centre.

On the ice, the sixth-ranked Varsity Blues women grabbed another three points and now have sole possession of second place in the conference. U of T (9-6-2-2, 2nd OUA) battled to a 1-1 draw versus Queen’s on Saturday afternoon, before playing a stellar defensive game in Sunday’s 2-0 win over Western. Stephanie Lockert stopped all 14 shots she faced to earn the shutout.

The U of T men played a solid game on Saturday night, but it wasn’t enough as they fell 3-2 to the nation’s tenth-ranked UQTR Patriotes. The Varsity Blues (6-13-1, 3rd OUA Mid-East) fired 15 third period shots at UQTR netminder Dany Dallaire, but could only beat him once, with just four seconds to play. On Friday, U of T struggled in a 7-4 loss to Concordia. This weekend’s road trip to McGill and Ottawa will be an important one for the Varsity Blues’ playoff hopes.

On the track, there were a number of great performances for the Varsity Blues. At the McGill Team Challenge, Mark Stewart and Darcelle McCutcheon earned first place finishes in the 60m hurdles, while Mark Dillon and Sarah Boyle grabbed top honours in the high jump at an event in Findlay, Ohio. Meanwhile, also south of the border at the Reno Pole Vault Summit, Suzanne Fish had a leap of 3.85m to establish a new U of T record and place her second in the CIS this season.

In the pool, with two weeks to go before the conference finals in Sudbury, U of T had no trouble cruising past both Guelph and Laurentian in a dual meet this weekend. Leading the way was third-year Varsity Blue Jen Porenta who swept to three gold medals in the sprints (50m free, 50m & 100m butterfly). Co-captain and national champion Ian MacLeod won three events in his final dual meet for the Blues. The fourth-year, former U of T athlete of the year won the 100m butterfly, 800m freestyle and 100m backstroke.

Fellow co-captain Scott Briggs, also swimming in his final dual meet, did it in style with two gold medals in the 50m butterfly and 50m freestyle. Other double winners in the meet were Paul Dudar (400free&IM), Kate Plyley (100&200freestyles), and Marco Monaco in the 200IM & 50 breaststroke.

As well, three Blues traveled with assistant coach Linda Kiefer to an international elite meet outside Zurich the final weekend in January. Sasha Theron surprised everyone with a personal best time by over a full second to grab the bronze medal in the 100mfreestyle in 55.9. Teammate Gillian Bryon reach the finals with best times in her two events (200back & 200IM) and Brittney Scott, in her first foray into international swimming, was fourth in the 200butterfly.

The Varsity Blues basketball teams were 1-3 in Ottawa this weekend. For the women, Christine Cho scored 10 of her team-high 14 points in the opening half to pace the Varsity Blues (9-8, T-2nd OUA East) past Ottawa 57-49. On Saturday, U of T fell 68-64 to the Carleton Ravens. The men (12-5, 3rd OUA East) dropped a playoff-style battle to Ottawa 72-63, despite a 25-point effort from Paul Sergautis. At Carleton, the Varsity Blues fell behind early and were defeated 74-52 by the three-time defending champion Ravens.

Also on tap this weekend is the OUA squash championship, where the Varsity Blues women will be in pursuit of their fourth straight OUA crown. For complete event recaps, photos and news on your favourite team, visit the ‘team pages’ at the online home of the Varsity Blues at www.varsityblues.ca.

With the Blues’ 5-3 victory over RMC, U of T inches closer to their opponents and the Queen’s Golden Gaels in the division.

But this match was not easily won. The game was gritty and extremely physical from beginning to end. As a matter of fact, a combination of five powerplay and shorthanded goals were scored in the midst of the physical play.

For the second straight game, the Blues fell behind in the first period, as the Paladins opened up the scoring with a quick powerplay goal early in the first period. After going up 2-1 early in the second period, the lead would soon diminish as the Blues would go on to score four goals in the middle frame. Captain Simon Barg was credited for a shorthanded marker in this frame, and scoring leader Ray Smegal and Mark Heatley scored powerplay goals of their own.

The Blues were very opportunistic with the puck the entire game, even though they considerably physically out-played. The majority of penalties on the night for the Blues were retaliatory, but in most cases both sides were gritty and stingy in giving up position and providing offensive pressure. The Blues were outshot 42-31, but Blues netminder Brian Dunnigan only allowed those two goals early in the game.

Smegal lead the team for the night with five points – two goals and three assists – which garnered him player of the game honours. Anthony Pallotta also scored for the game, tallying three points for the game.

The Blues have a lot to think about until their next match. They are in striking distance in the division, have adjustments to make on the defensive end, and have very tough matches coming up. They will be facing much of the OUA Far East division, with a match against Concordia, UQTR, and McGill respectively, in the next couple weeks.

Big winners this past weekend included the men’s basketball team who grabbed their 12th-straight victory, the women’s volleyball squad, who ‘swept’ away the competition in their first two conference match-ups of 2006 and the men’s hockey team who went 2-0 in a pair of key divisional match-ups.

Desperately needing four points to begin the climb back into the race for a playoff spot in the OUA Mid-East, the men’s hockey team did just that in Kingston. On Friday night, the Varsity Blues dumped the division-leading RMC Paladins 4-2, with Anthony Pallotta netting two goals, including the game-winner, while adding an assist to lead U of T. On Saturday, the Varsity Blues slipped past Queen’s 2-1, as Andrew Smale found the back of the net with just 1:40 remaining for the win.

The U of T men will host RMC Saturday after a Friday night tussle with Queen’s and the first trip to Varsity Arena for rookie coach and former Toronto Maple Leaf Kirk Muller.

The Varsity Blues women’s hockey squad will hit the road to take on York and Waterloo after going 1-1 at home this weekend. On Friday, seventh-ranked U of T fell 2-1 to the nation’s No.1-ranked Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks before shutting out York 4-0 on Sunday. Janine Davies scored twice for the Varsity Blues, while Lisa Robertson stopped all 19 shots she faced to earn the clean sheet.

The U of T women’s volleyball team was perfect last week with a 3-0 road win at Brock and a sometimes sluggish, yet convincing 3-0 victory at home to York. CIS all-Canadian Asya Danilova stole the show on Sunday with an incredible 27 points in just three sets of action. The Varsity Blues men had an opportunity for two wins after getting past Windsor on Saturday 3-1 however, it wasn’t meant to be on Sunday afternoon as the Western Mustangs eked out a 3-2 win in an ever-growing and entertaining rivalry.

Both volleyball teams are back home this weekend to host Guelph on Saturday and the McMaster Marauders on Sunday.

On the hardwood, the Varsity Blues highlighted a three-win week with an upset of seventh-ranked McMaster 77-58. On Wednesday, U of T dumped Ryerson 79-64 and earned their ninth-straight conference victory at Lakehead on Saturday, 72-67 over the Thunderwolves. Second-year guard Dwayne Grant led the way with 36 points, 23 rebounds and some steady defence in the three victories.

The women’s basketball squad went 1-1 on the road, falling at ninth-ranked McMaster 72-62, before bouncing back to defeat Lakehead 81-65. Forward Christine Cho had an amazing weekend, scoring 37 points and hauling in 16 rebounds in the two contests for the Varsity Blues. On Saturday, Amanda Van Leeuwen also had her best outing of the season, netting 15 points and nine rebounds.

The women’s squash team hosted their final regular season matches of the year and knocked off McMaster 5-1 after a 3-3 deadlock with Western that the Mustangs won on games 13-9. Those results will have the Varsity Blues venturing to the OUA Championship on February 5 at McGill as the second seed. It’s the men’s squash team’s turn to host this weekend with matches against Waterloo, Brock, McMaster and Western.

Along with all of the teams already noted, Varsity Blues curling, track & field and wrestling will also be in action. For complete game recaps, photos and news on your favourite team, visit the ‘team pages’ at the online home of the Varsity Blues at www.varsityblues.ca

On Tuesday, a game-high 21 points from forward Paul Sergautis lifted the University of Toronto men’s basketball team to a 79-64 over victory the Ryerson Rams, moving the Varsity Blues into a three-way tie for first place in the OUA East.

The victory was the tenth-straight for U of T (9-2), which includes a trio of exhibition wins in December, and gives the Varsity Blues 18 points in OUA play, placing them in a first place deadlock with the nation’s third-ranked Carleton Ravens (9-1) and the fourth-ranked Ottawa Gee Gees (9-1).At Ryerson, the Varsity Blues shot a red-hot 51-percent from the floor, led by Sergautis’ 9-of-14 performance to go along with six rebounds. Fourth-year post Michael Williams added 14 points and seven rebounds in just 23 minutes of action, while second-year guard Dwayne Grant (pictured) chipped in with a double-double, including 10 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

Duane Benjamin led the Rams with an 18-point effort.

U of T outrebounded the Rams 39-28 and held their cross-town rivals to 36-percent shooting from the field.

The Varsity Blues will have their work cut out for them this weekend as they hit the road to wrap up a stretch of five games in just nine days. U of T ventures to Hamilton on Friday to take on the seventh-ranked McMaster Marauders, before heading north on Saturday to tangle with the Lakehead Thunderwolves.

In the first weekend of regular season action in 2006, the University of Toronto men’s basketball and hockey teams both got off to a great start, opening the year with a pair of conference victories.