Jet lag did not appear to be a factor last night in British Columbia as both OCAA Men’s Volleyball representatives turned in stellar performances at the CCAA Men’s Volleyball National Championship. The Nipissing Women's team also performed well, but fell in their National Championship debut.

Playing the opening match of the tournament, the Algonquin Thunder found themselves in the middle of a thrilling five set match that eventually saw the OCAA Champions fall 3-2 (25-23, 16-25, 29-27, 20-25, 9-15) to the fourth ranked Grant MacEwan Griffins. The games were tightly played with Quentin Skinner proving to be the most efficient offensive player for the Thunder, hitting an impressive .417 for the match and contributing five digs to the cause.

Algonquin’s workhorses of the night were the tandem of Brett Dailey, who the team in both kills (13) and attempts (38), and Matt Marjanski who added 11 kills in 33 attempts and seven digs. Setter Dave Keo was kept quite busy during the match dolling out 42 assists in the loss as well as leading the team in digs with 10.

Algonquin will now face University of King’s College at 4:00 pm (EST) in a must win match if the Provincial Champs want to advance to the Bronze medal side of the draw.

Five set matches were on the menu for OCAA teams as Mohawk College dropped their opening match 3-2 (28-26, 14-25, 25-23, 21-25, 12-15) to the host team Malaspina University-College. In the setters duel, it was the All-Canadian Peter Sniuolis pacing the match’s ball distribution with 45 assists and three kills to his credit. Jasmin Cull once again demonstrated his two way play leading his team in kills (20) attempts (41) and digs with seven.

Kevin Watson also had a strong game for the Thunder downing 18 kills of his own in 41 attempts and contributing five digs. Steven Pawelczyk was on fire from the service line donating eight service aces in the match.

Mohawk will now face University College of the Fraser Valley, who are coming off a five set match of their own, at 6:00 pm (EST).

The schedule for second round action is as follows:

Algonquin College VS University of King’s College @ 1:00 p.m.
Mohawk College VS University College of the Fraser Valley @ 3:00 p.m.
Red Deer College VS MacEwan College @ 6:00 p.m.
Cégep Limoilou VS Malaspina University-College @ 8:00 p.m.

On the mainland, Nipissing University was getting their newly traveled National Championship volleyball shoes wet dropping their opening round match to the Malaspina University-College 3-0 (22-25, 21-25, 16-25).

Lynn Danis was unflappable in the match downing nine kills while committing only one hitting error to hit a team leading .400 attacking per cent. Danis’ complete performance game didn’t stop there as the fourth year player added to her totals collecting team highs in digs (8) and a solo block, also a team leader.

All-Canadian Megan Stacey led the team with 14 kills and contributed six digs and was named the player of the game for her effort. Stefanie Hancock also turned a solid performance on defense matching Danis’ eight digs.

Nipissing will look to rebound against Mount Royal College in their second round action with the game starting at 6:00 pm (EST).

The day two tournament schedule is as follows:

Cégep Beauce Appalaches vs Mount Allison University @ 1:00 p.m.
Mount Royal College vs Nipissing University @ 3:00 p.m.
Collège Bois-de-Boulogne vs MacEwan College @ 6:00 p.m.
Capilano College vs Malaspina University-College @ 8:00 p.m.