BARRIE, Ont. - After another day of thrilling matches the gold
medal final has been determined at 2014 Ontario Colleges Athletic
Association (OCAA) Men's Volleyball Championship hosted by Georgian
College.
The first semi-final game featured the Mohawk Mountaineers and the
Fanshawe Falcons in a classic match between two of the OCAA's
elite. After Fanshawe took the first set 25-21 the Mountaineers
rebounded with an impressive 26-24 win to even the score 1-1. With
a large contingent of fans who travelled from Mohawk, the
Mountaineers used that momentum to take the next two sets by scores
of 25-16 and 25-14 to take the match 3-1.
OCAA rookie of the year Bryce Marcussen was named
player of the game for Mohawk with his 16 points while West
Division scoring champion Mathieu Poulin showed
exactly why he earned that title registering an incredible 23 kills
for Fanshawe.
In the final match of the night the Humber Hawks put together an
impressive performance over the Durham Lords sweeping them 3-0
(25-16, 25-18, 25-10). Terrel Bramwell had 17
points to help put the Hawks in Saturday's gold medal match.
Brad vanHartingsveldt had six points for the Lords
who remain in contention for the bronze medal despite the loss.
This sets up the gold medal match between the Mohawk Mountaineers
and the Humber Hawks which will take Saturday evening at 6 p.m. The
Hawks defeated the Mountaineers in both regular season matches this
year, 3-2 in the season opener on Oct. 23 and 3-0 on Feb. 12.
Mohawk, who was the West Division's fourth seed coming into the
championship, has taken their game to another level this weekend
which should make for a historic match up on Saturday night.
The Mountaineers have medaled in each of the past three season's
including silver last year and will be looking for their first
men's volleyball gold since the 2007-08 season. The Humber Hawks
won gold in three consecutive years from 2010 through 2012 but did
not medal last year, something they will reverse on Saturday.
Earlier in the day the Niagara Knights dashed the hopes of the
host Georgian Grizzlies ending their season after a 3-1 score
(25-22, 25-12, 20-25, 25-13). Niagara's Daniel
Groenveld had a team-high 21 points including 21 kills
while Georgian's Lyndon Sonego was named his
team's player of the game with 10 kills in his final match for the
Grizzlies.
In the biggest comeback so far in the championship the Algonquin
Thunder rebounded from a 2-0 deficit to keep their medal hopes
alive by rallying to take three straight sets to defeat the George
Brown Huskies 3-2 (21-25, 21-25, 25-21, 25-21, 15-12).
Patrick Goulet was named player of the game for
the Thunder with 23 points while D'Artaniel
Jackman continued his strong tournament with 11 points for
the Huskies.
The Niagara Knights will face the Fanshawe Falcons in the first
semi-final for the bronze medal game while the Algonquin Thunder
will meet the Durham Lords in the other contest on Saturday
morning. The two winners will go on to face each other at 4 p.m. in
the bronze medal match.
Championship Website: www.georgiancollege.ca/campus-life/athletics/2014-ocaa-mens-volleyball-championship/
Championship Webcast: www.ocaatv.com/members/ocaa2/
OCAA MEN'S VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE
Thursday, February 20
Quarter-Finals
Game 1 - Fanshawe 3, George Brown 0
Game 2 - Mohawk 3, Algonquin 0
Game 3 - Durham 3, Niagara 2
Game 4 - Humber 3, Georgian 0
Friday, February 21
Bronze Quarter-Finals
Game 5 - Algonquin 3, George Brown 2
Game 6 - Niagara 3, Georgian 1
Semi-Finals
Game 7 - Mohawk 3, Fanshawe 1
Game 8 - Humber 3, Durham 0
Saturday, February 22
Bronze Semi-Finals
Game 9 - Fanshawe vs. Niagara - 9 a.m.
Game 10 - Durham vs. Algonquin - 11 a.m.
Bronze Medal Match
Game 11 - Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 10 - 4 p.m.
Winning team presented OCAA Bronze Medal at conclusion of
match
Gold Medal Match
Game 12 - Mohawk vs. Humber - 6 p.m.
OCAA Gold and Silver Medals presented at conclusion of
match
Source: Georgian College