The Durham Lords men’s volleyball team secured a home playoff match with a hard-fought 3-2 victory over the Algonquin Wolves on Sunday, Feb. 2.
The Lords started strong, taking the first two sets 25-19, but the Wolves responded by winning the third and fourth sets, forcing a decisive fifth set.
In a tense final set, the Lord’s edged out a 20-18 win to lock in fourth place in the east division with an 11-7 record.
Before the match, the Lords knew what was at stake. Assistant coach Tyler Krabi emphasized the team’s preparation.
“We’ve done a lot of video and film on our opponent,” Krabi said. “We spent a long week training, getting ready for what they have planned for us and what we’re going to do next if we don’t win.”
He said the team analyzed the Wolve’s strengths and weaknesses, looking for ways to exploit their weaknesses.
Krabi also stressed the significance of the match, given the Lord’s playoff positioning.
“This game is very important for where we can finish,” he said. “A winning result gets us a home playoff game next weekend and a losing result may get us on the road. So we really want to be in a position to host.”
The Lords also had extra motivation, with their entire starting lineup made up of graduating seniors.
“One guy to look at in particular is our right side, No. 15 (Pietrus Kuypers),” Krabi said. “He’s approaching the 500-point club and he’s about 15 points off, so he’s going to be pushing that.”
Middle player Will Doucet was confident heading into the match.
“We played these guys before. We know what we have to do and it’s nothing we can’t handle,” he said. “As long as we know where to set up, close the blocks, we should be able to handle them easily.”
Doucet had a personal goal for the game, blocking every shot that came his way.
Kuypers delivered an outstanding performance, racking up 21 kills, 13 digs, and two blocks, reaching the 500 career-point milestone in the process. His efforts also earned him Athlete of the Week.
Doucet made a strong impact, contributing nine kills, three solo blocks and four digs, while Tyler Jegen added five kills and five blocks.
Doucet acknowledged the team’s rollercoaster performance but credited their ability to regroup in the fifth set.
“We started off amazing,” he said. “We hit a little bit of a slump when one of our guys got injured but we were able to keep up the pace, keep up the intensity. Now that we’re on a roll going into playoffs, I think it’s best to try and keep on rolling.”
He also reflected on his personal goal, saying the team executed their plan as well as they could have.
“Starting off the game with a couple of big blocks and really setting the pace and the tone for the rest of the game. I think we all did our part, we played amazingly,” Doucet said.
Krabi said he felt relieved and admitted the Wolves put up a tough fight but Krabi was proud of how the Lords responded.
“We stuck to our game in the first two sets very well and obviously, Algonquin is a good, competitive team and they fought back in sets three and four,” he said. “Then we were like, ‘Let’s go back to our game plan, go their guns, and get it done in five.’”
Krabi highlighted several standout moments, including Kuypers’ solo block to win the match and Jegen’s strong performance.
“Tyler was fantastic,” he said. “That’s probably the best I’ve seen him play in a while, especially from a blocking standpoint.”
“There’s a lot to look forward to,” said Krabi.
The Lords now shift focus to the playoffs, where they will host a qualifying-round match against the Niagara Knights on Feb. 8 at 3 p.m.