Douglas College pulled off a rare three-set comeback victory, knocking off the No. 1 Vancouver Island University Mariners in men's volleyball on Saturday.
The five-set victory pulled the Royals into a first-place tie in overall wins with the Mariners atop the PacWest standings. The Vancouver Island school has played two less games than the 12-4 Royals.
"It was good," said fifth-year Douglas outside hitter Jeff Taylor. "In the five years I've been at Douglas it was the first time we've comeback from two sets down."
The win tied the PacWest league series between the two teams at 2-2, and followed a 3-0 loss to the Mariners the day before at Douglas.
On Saturday, the Royals dropped the opening set 25-14. The home team then fell behind by two games following a 28-26 loss to the hard-hitting Mariners.
But the Royals never lost their structure, keeping balls in the air and setting up an attack of their own behind Taylor's strong hitting and the effective tandem blocking of Rex Fenton and 6-7 middle Mark Vanderwal.
Overall digs leader Jordan Or, a Moscrop high school grad, was also a big factor in keeping the ball alive for Douglas.
"We knew we had to win this game to be considered a top five team in the country," Taylor said. "Now, I think coming back from 0-2 against the No. 1 team in the country, other teams will respect us more."
Douglas took the turnaround third set by a resounding 25-13 score. The Royals led for most of the way in the following set, getting a 25-23 win on Kaleb Dawes' service winner.
In the tiebreaker, Douglas fell behind 3-0 but went ahead 8-6 at the crossover on a pair of winning blocks by Vanderwal.
A Brendan Paterson kill made the score 14-10 in favour of Douglas. Andrew Robson then completed the comeback for the Royals with a game-winning block.
Douglas head coach Brad Hudson said the team is learning how to do those little things that it takes to win the big games.
The Royals opened the volleyball season, splitting its weekend series matches with the University of the Fraser Valley, Capilano and Vancouver Island before closing the fall portion of the season with an 8-0 run.
"We showed a lot of patience and heart staying the course. Today we were able to find what we needed (to win)," Hudson added. "This group has grown together. ... They know how to win these games now."
Evidence of that came in the third set when the Douglas defence appeared to stiffen and return the ball with some effective shotmaking.
Taylor led the charge back with 10 winners at the net, while big digs by Or and Devon Heppner kept the Royals ahead when the scoreline began to tighten in the late going.
"We did have to overcome some adversity, but we had to own it (responsibility) and know we had to find something inside ourselves that brought us to the level we think we can play at," Hudson said.
Taylor believes the win will have a postive effect on the team going forward in preparation for the provincial championships.
"In the next three weeks we have to get better," Taylor said. "Hopefully, (the win) gives us momentum going into next week."
The Royals will host College of the Rockies in a two-match set in New Westminster on Saturday and Sunday.
