SAINT JOHN, N.B. - The Humber Hawks women’s volleyball team’s search of national gold came to an end this afternoon after a quarter-final loss to the Mount Royal Cougars. The Hawks fell 3-1 to the Cougars in front of fans at the UNBSJ gymnasium in Saint John, New Brunswick.

From the beginning the sixth ranked Hawks struggled trying to get the ball past the tall blockers of the Cougars. The Alberta champions showed Humber no mercy as they returned everything the Hawks threw at them in the first set. Mount Royal took the first set 25-20.

The second set was more of the same as the Hawks offence could not figure out the stellar defence of the Cougars, and it was beginning to frustrate the Hawk’s players. At the end of the second set it was 25-18 for the Cougars.

The Hawks dug deep in third set and gave Mount Royal a tough fight. For the moment they had seemed to figure out the tough net presence of Mount Royal. Led by Captain Landis Doyle the Hawks led the entire way through the set and took it by a final score of 25-22.

In the final set the Hawks just simply had no gas left in the tank. The Cougars power was just simply too much for the Hawks and the Cougars rolled over the Hawks by a score of 25-19.

Landis Doyle, the 2011 CCAA Player of the Year, was selected as the Humber Player of the Game.

Although suffering a disappointing loss in the first round at the CCAA Finals the Hawks need to hold their heads up high. That loss was only their second loss in intercollegiate play this entire season (24-2). Also they claimed their fourth straight OCAA title proving that there is no team in Ontario better than the Humber Hawks.

Humber still has a shot at a national medal as the will now play on Friday in the Bronze Quarter Final. Their opponent will be Mount Allison University. They will hit the court at 12:00 noon est.

Official tournament website, and watch games live at: www.ccaawomensvolleyball2011.ca

Source: Humber College