Tyndale Volleyball Team 'Competes at High Level'
This semester was exciting for Tyndale’s Student Activities Coordinator, Matt Murray. That’s because he was part of developing and coaching the Tyndale Men’s Club Volleyball Team. Practicing twice a week all semester, the team played in two exhibition games to prepare for the “Outtahand” tournament, which took place on Saturday, November 23.
Along with Matt, coaching the team is Steph Vanden Boomen. Working with the team on “fitness and mobility” is Louizandre Dauphin, Tyndale’s Athletics Director.
The “Outtahand” tournament is a “volleyball organization that runs within the Toronto area that offers leagues, but also a variation of different forms of tournaments to city club teams,” says Matt.
Tyndale’s team entered the “Men’s Sixes” tournament (six players from each team on the court), which is the standard in volleyball tournaments, including varsity-college and the Olympics.
Tyndale’s team competed against top level players from around Canada, including “former college players, local elite league players, as well as Ryan Talsma – a CCAA All-Canadian volleyball athlete.”
“This was a high-level competitive tournament,” states Matt. “There were a bit of nerves during the first game, but by game two and three, we began to loosen up and competed at a high level.”
After coming out of their pool in third place, Tyndale went on to face the team that would end up finishing second overall in the tournament. “Both games we played against them were very close. The second game was a back-and-forth battle until the other team went on to win 28-26.”
Considering the high-level talent of their opponents, “the team played extraordinarily well; it was so encouraging to watch,” said Matt.
He sees this experience as a “stepping stone to see the program continue to grow” as Tyndale looks to enrich student life and athletics into the future at the Bayview campus.
Team players and positions included: Zach Edwards (Team Captain; Setter), Max Woodley (Left Side), Will Vanderlaan (Middle), Matt Myles (Left Side), Allan Wallace (Right Side), Curtis Hartshorn (Middle), and Reuben DeVries (Middle). Absent from the tournament, but part of the team was: Matthew Hiscock, Jason Dyck and David Schuelein.
The team will continue to compete at tournaments next semester, and the hope moving forward is to eventually join an athletics association and compete against other colleges in the future.
There will be opportunities next semester for students (University College and Seminary) to try-out. For more information, contact Matt at mmurray [at] tyndale [dot] ca.