The Championship brackets have been set as the OCAA Championships take place from February 23-25 at Humber College in Etobicoke, ON.

First place teams Algonquin (East), Durham (Central East), Fanshawe (West) and Humber (Central West) received automatic byes to the Championships after winning their respective regions at the close of the season.

This past weekend played host to four qualifying matches with fighting for their last opportunity to earn a spot in the OCAA Championships and join the four regional champions.

After a crushing defeat to the Durham Lords earlier in the week, the Seneca Sting (North York) had to travel down the QEW to face the Niagara Knights (Welland). Seneca managed to turn there game up a notch as they defeated the Knights 3-1 (25-21, 15-25, 25-20, 25-21). Melissa Morden of the Sting was the games leading scorer with 13 points (11 kills, 2 blocks).

For the second straight year, the Mohawk Mountaineers (Hamilton) had to travel to Peterborough to earn a spot in the OCAA Championships. Last year, Mohawk managed to sweep the Fleming Knights 3-0. This year, Mohawk’s opponent from Peterborough was different as they faced the up and coming Trent Excalibur, but the Mountaineers managed to get the same result as they won 3-0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-22). Jaclyn Archer was the games leading scorer as she managed to score 13 total points (8 kills, 4 aces, 1 block).

The second ranked Nipissing Lakers (North Bay) easily defeated the Loyalist Lancers (Belleville) 3-0 (25-11, 25-18, 25-14). Megan Stacey was into her usual bag of tricks as she scored 18 points (15 kills, 2 aces, 1 block) in the win. Nipissing hopes that they can bring home their first ever OCAA women’s volleyball championship gold back to North Bay.

In the last qualifying match of the week, the Redeemer Royals (Ancaster) looked poised to earn a berth into the Championships as they won the first two sets of their match against the Georgian Grizzlies (Barrie). With their backs against the wall, Georgian got behind their captain Kim Ward-Paige and won the final three sets to win the match 3-2 (23-25, 17-25, 25-22, 25-17, 15-10). Ward-Paige scored 26 points in the win, totaling 23 kills, 2 aces and 1 block.

Here are the seed’s for this week’s Championship:
1. Humber Hawks
2. Nipissing Lakers
3. Durham Lords
4. Fanshawe Falcons
5. Georgian Grizzlies
6. Mohawk Mountaineers
7. Seneca Sting
8. Algonquin Thunder