Veteran presence, a fabulous venue and excellent all around play all helped guide the Mohawk Mountaineers to a CCAA Men’s Volleyball bronze medal this past weekend at Humber College. Despite one of the worst snow storms in more than 15 years, the show went on at Humber College and Ontario maintained its record of hosting medal winning teams.

The week started off well for the Mountaineers as fourth year player, Jasmin Cull, was named the CCAA National Player of the Year. He was the first player since Todd Boyes in 1999 to earn the honour.

Day one however was not the start the team from Hamilton was looking for, as they struggled to find their groove versus their Quebec rival Limoilou. Struggles or not, Mohawk was simply too much for the Titans and found a way to win posting the 3-1 victory 25-16, 28-26, 19-25, 25-22. Steve Pawelczyk captured player of the game honours for the Mountaineers.

After a good night sleep and time to put the previous day behind them, the Mountaineers went into day two with a renewed confidence. They faced off against the top ranked Mount Royal Cougars in what would prove to be one of the most entertaining and closely contested games of the tournament.

The Mohawk Mountaineers came out firing on all cylinders as they came away with an exciting 26-24 first set win. It was the Jasmin Cull show in the first frame as the Mount Royal defense had no answer for the CCAA Player of the Year with the opening set headed for extra points. Cull would wind up with 32 points in the match to give him the lead of the championship scoring race with 54 total points.

Mount Royal managed to put things together in the second as they evened things up with a 25-22 victory. The Cougars turned up the pressure in the final stages managing to surge ahead to the three point victory.

With the match all square at 1-1, Mohawk appeared to loose their veteran composure in the third set committing numerous and costly errors. With a timeout called at 13-8, Mohawk head coach James Bradley was shown a yellow card for arguing with officials, costing Mohawk another point. Mount Royal continued to apply the pressure in the game as Calgary native Andrew Visser finished off the Mountaineers on what was described as a “laser beam kill” to take the set 25-15 and a 2-1 lead.

Looking to rebound after their disastrous third set, Mohawk came out looking sharp as they doubled up the Cougars 8-4 early in the game. After Mount Royal rallied to tie the game at nines, Mohawk turned up the pressure once again as they regained their four point advantage at 17-13.

Cue the comeback. The Alberta Champions found a way to tie the game which would remain all even up until 25-25. After a Jason Derooca kill gave Mount Royal an opportunity to serve for the match, the Cougars would find a way to get the ball into Allen Meek’s hands who would go on to bury a kill that would end Mohawk’s chance at the gold medal final. The final score in the set was 27-25 with the Cougars earning the 3-1 victory. Meek’s final kill was one of 17 on the night as he was named Mount Royal’s player of the game. Cull, who led all scorers with 32 points, earned the honour for Mohawk.

The final day of the tournament started early for Mohawk as they took on another rival from one year ago in the Malaspina Mariners from British Columbia. The first set was a see-saw battle, with neither team willing to go down by more than one point at any given time. There were several lead changes in the set, culminating in a very close Mariners victory, 26-24.

The Mountaineers, the fifth ranked team in the tournament, came out with flying in the second set, blasting out to an early 7-3 lead. Mariners head coach Chris Densmore called a timeout and berated his team for their lack of focus. The timeout rejuvenated the third ranked Mariners and they cut the lead to two before Mountaineers head coach James Bradley was forced to call a timeout of his own. Several aces by left side hitter Adam Schiedel propelled the Mountaineers to a victory in the second set, 25-21.

The Mountaineers took the third set 25-23 and went into the fourth set full of confidence. They won that one 25-20, thanks to a dominating performance from OCAA Player of the Year, Jasmin Cull. The Mountaineers had four players in double digits in kills, with Cull leading the way with 25.

Setter Peter Sniuolis was named the Player of the Match for the Mountaineers after distributing the ball with precision and allowing his hitters to have only one blocker to contest on numerous occasions.

When teams face off three times in less than two months and twice in two days, emotions tend to run high. In the bronze medal match Mohawk and Limoilou did just that as they faced each other for the second time in three days. Unlike their first meeting, the Mountaineers needed very little motivation to get up for the match and defeated the Limoilou Titans 3-1 (25-18, 23-25, 25-20, 25-18).

The story of the game was Mohawk’s ability to get off to a quick start in every set. As the Mountaineers built up momentum, the Titans were unable to recover from their early deficits. Having played a trio of four-set matches over the weekend, the Mountaineers still found enough energy to jump out to 8-4 and 18-13 leads to open up the match. The team from Hamilton continued to roll in the opening frame as they took the first set by a score of 25-18, going out in front 1-0. Mohawk’s Jasmin Cull led all Mohawk scorers in the set with six points.

Midway through the second set, the teams found themselves in a deadlock at 15 points apiece. The Titans turned up the pressure and managed to roll off a 3-0 run highlighted by a Mathieu McLaughlin ace which caused the Mountaineers to call a timeout. Coming out of the break, Mohawk was able to fight back scoring the next three points to tie the set at 18-18. The Titans managed to rebound and gain a little separation late in the set to build a slim 24-23 lead. With the set in balance, Mohawk’s Adam Schiedel put a serve in the net giving Limoilou the two point second set victory.
The Mountaineers came out on fire in the third set as they established to an early 7-1 lead. The Titans cut the lead to three points (14-11) causing Mohawk’s coach, James Bradley, to call another timeout. The Titans would get within one point following the break (14-13), but the Mountaineers would regain their composer to go on to a 25-20 set victory. Mohawk’s Adam Schiedel was obviously inspired and closed out the set on a thunderous block to put the Mountaineers one win away from the bronze medal.

In the fourth set, Mohawk once again began on a roll as they managed to go out in front 7-2. As the set moved along, Mohawk sensed that a bronze medal was within their grasp. The Titans would get within two points, but that is as close as they would come as the Mountaineers won by a score of 25-18 to claim their school’s first national medal in the sport.

Steve Pawelczyk finished things off with a kill on the final play, recording 12 points in the Mohawk win. Jasmin Cull led all scorers with 28 points to finish the championship with 108 in total.

The bronze medal marked the first time in Mohawk College history that their men’s volleyball program has made it to the medal podium on the national stage, having been shutout in over the past two seasons at the national championships. For the OCAA, it marked the second consecutive year that a member has won a medal at the national championship as the Algonquin Thunder won bronze last season.

(With files from Humber College)