OOPS THEY DID IT AGAIN

With their 3-1 (25-18, 15-25, 25-20, 25-20) win at St. Clair on the final day of January, the Humber Hawks clinched their fourth consecutive west regional championship.

Humber is a perfect 15-0 this season, with a winning streak of 81 matches (OCAA regular and post-season play) spanning back to 2010-11, the last time it did not win the west.

As she has done all season, fourth-year outside Thalia Hanniman (Pembroke, Ont.) led the way with a match-high 20 points on 19 kills and one block. Third-year teammate Kelsey Kovar (Stoney Creek, Ont.) was just as strong with 18 points on 17 kills and a block. Feeding the Mikasa to this duo was fourth-year setter Carley Uden (Newmarket, Ont.) with 51 assists.

Humber's next meaningful match will take place in the OCAA quarter-finals at Redeemer University College on Feb. 26. The Hawks will not be idle, however, with matches against Conestoga (3-12), Mohawk (4-11) and Fanshawe (4-10) to close the regular season.

Other west regional teams joining Humber and championship host Redeemer (8-6) in the OCAA post-season are Niagara (12-3) and Sheridan (12-4).

SHARPENING THEIR CLAWS

The top two teams in the east region are ready to do battle with a regional championship still up for grabs.

The first-place Georgian Grizzlies are licking their wounds after a surprising straight sets loss (25-21, 27-25, 28-26) at Durham, ending an 11-game winning streak. Georgian (13-2) still controls its own destiny, however, but have an important meeting with Canadore (12-4) on Saturday.

The Canadore Panthers have won seven of their last eight matches, and handed Georgian its only other loss back on Nov. 2, also by a 3-0 (25-21, 25-11, 25-19) score. With only two matches remaining this regular season Canadore (12-4) needs to pad its record, with Seneca (11-4), Durham (11-5) and Trent (10-5) in hot pursuit.

All five of these teams are headed to the post-season no matter what happens. But with the top two teams earning byes into the OCAA championship, and the next best two playing qualifying matches at home, there is still plenty to play for.

SIXTH SENSE

The top six teams from each region will advance to the post-season, making a pair of matches this weekend all the more important.

On Saturday, Algonquin visits Loyalist, with both teams currently tied for sixth place in the east region with records of 6-9. The former currently holds the tiebreaker between these clubs as a result of a 3-1 win at home back on Nov. 15.

With just three matches remaining for both clubs this regular season, neither team can't afford to lose. In the rear view mirror for both teams is George Brown (4-10) which could still surpass both Algonquin and Loyalist with an additional match in hand.

Over in the west, sixth-place Cambrian (6-8) visits seventh-place Fanshawe (4-10) on Sunday. While the records of these teams will change over the next four days (both teams pay a visit to St. Clair while Fanshawe also hosts Boréal), the path to the post-season will most certainly be unlocked for the team that wins on Sunday.

Cambrian and Fanshawe could conceivably still catch (or in Cambrian's case, surpass) fifth-place St. Clair (8-5), making this an important stretch of matches for all three clubs.

Mohawk (4-11) remains in play for the final playoff spot, but will be eliminated with its next loss or Cambrian's next win.

K FOR EFFORT

Third-year left side Jordie Bevan (Oakville, Ont.) flirted with an OCAA single-match record in Sheridan's 3-2 (17-25, 26-24, 20-25, 25-23, 15-13) win at Conestoga.

Bevan tallied 28 kills in the match, three short of Eve Thibault's 31 set with Canadore in 2006-07.

Bevan's previous season-high was 17 in a straight sets win over Cambrian on Jan. 17. She now leads all OCAA players with 186 kills, averaging 3.15 per set.

STEPHANIE FROM THE BLOCK

In the race for OCAA career blocks, Fanshawe fifth-year middle Stephanie Bignell (Drayton, Ont.) now has a record 232 to her credit, 14 more than her closest pursuer, Georgian fifth-year middle Hannah Campbell (Midland, Ont.).

Bignell earned five blocks in a 3-1 (25-20, 23-25, 25-17, 25-15) loss at Redeemer, and another three in a 3-1 (23-25, 25-23, 25-21, 25-20) win at Mohawk.

Campbell was limited to a pair of blocks in Georgian's loss to Durham.

RECENT RESULTS

UPCOMING GAMES

Source: OCAA Communications