OSHAWA, Ont. – Durham College will be heading to the OCAA men's volleyball gold medal match for the first time since 2006 after a 3-0 victory over the No. 1 ranked Fanshawe Falcons Friday night in Hamilton.
Saturday's game will be a rematch of the 2006 final as the Lords will take on the Mohawk Mountaineers who defeated Georgian 3-0 in the other semifinal. The gold medal match is set for 5 p.m. at the David Braley Athletic and Recreation Centre in Hamilton.
This is the fifth time in the 36-year history of the men's volleyball program that Durham will be playing in the championship final. Durham has won two OCAA titles with their most recent coming in 1996 and their first in 1988.
"It was exciting," said Lords setter
John Pham of Oakville. "Our team really pushed together to really fight through to take that third set. I am out of words. There are no words to describe that feeling but it feels really great. That's all I can say."
Not many people gave Durham a chance to advance to the finals as Fanshawe entered the match as the No. 1 ranked team in the CCAA and had won 14 straight matches. History was also not on Durham's side as a team from the east region has not qualified for the finals since Seneca did in 2010.
Ignoring the pundits, Durham played with a lot of confidence early in the match as they took a commanding 17-10 lead in the first set. The Lords would finish off the set with an amazing defensive play by back-up setter
Riley McAdams (Cobourg, Ont.) followed by a
Mike Harper (Oakville, Ont.) kill.
The Lords carried their momentum into the second set and managed to always have a leg up on the opposition. Led by strong play from beyond the service line including an
Andrew Dube (Uxbridge, Ont.) ace for set point, Durham picked up the 25-19 win.
Up 2-0, Durham needed a comeback effort in the third set as they trailed 15-11. With Durham narrowing the gap to 22-20, the play of the match came when Pham and Harper had back-to-back dives to keep the rally alive. Fanshawe could not take advantage of the free ball as their attack went out of bounds putting the Lords within one.
Tied 25-25, Durham middle
Harrison Wood (Uxbridge, Ont.) took over the match as he had a monstrous kill followed by an ace to give the Lords the 3-0 win.
Wood led the way with 15 kills, one ace and four blocks while Dube had eight kills and one ace. Pham had 28 assists and 11 digs. Harper, who was credited with seven blocks, was named Durham's player of the game.
Sam Otten recorded nine kills and had two blocks for Fanshawe, while teammate James Jackson also had nine kills. Sebastian Lethbridge had 28 assists for the Falcons.
The Lords have won six straight matches dating back to January 28. Now they will focus on picking up one more victory to win the OCAA title and book a spot at the CCAA national championship in London.
Durham has won 14 medals in program history not including the one they will win on Saturday.
QUICK LOOK AT THE LORDS
Conference Record: 26-8
Overall Record: 16-2
Next Match: Saturday, Feb. 25 • Gold Medal Match vs. Mohawk (5 PM – Hamilton, Ont.)
