The Durham Lords came out strong and took an early lead in this one, but the Hawks quickly came surging back. The Hawks quickly found themselves with a 16-11 lead. Durham sides out with a huge kill by Alexa Armstrong, but then surrender the next couple of points as Humber's Shiann Williams delivers a towering hit that finds the floor in a hurry. Williams then follows up with an intimidating block, while Megan Hunt and Haley Henderson deliver several kills late from the outside as the Hawks roll to a 1st set victory 25-15.
The 2nd set saw the #1 seed from the East take another early lead punctuated by a massive kill by Allyson Terwillegar for the Lords. Alex Krstonosic responds by building a roof over her opponent adding a massive block to her impressive season stat line. The Lords leap back into the lead helped by an imposing cross-court strike by Althea Boncheff. Krstonosic then emerges once again when her team needed her and delivers back-to-back kills from the middle to knot the game at 14's. Humber used the momentum gained to build a 3-point lead and force a Durham timeout at 17-14. Unaffected by the break in play, the Hawks take a commanding 2-0 set lead by a score of 25-18.
With their backs against the wall, Durham comes out of the gates hot and earns a 4-1 lead thanks to a tough series of serves courtesy of Boncheff. The Hawks battle back by means of Alex Bartmann running an effective offense especially in transition. Fast-forward to mid-set, Boncheff for the Lords keeps her team in the game with another tough series of serves and some tremendous swings from the outside. Down a few points, Setter Karlina Domingo for Durham tries to spark a comeback for her team by turning on a ball and delivering a much needed point late in the match to help try to stave off elimination from gold medal contention. But, in the points that followed, Humber's middle tandem of Williams and Krstonosic each deliver crushing blows late in the match and the Hawks grab firmly on to the set, match, and berth to the championship game tomorrow night versus division rival Fanshawe Falcons. Set score: 25-16.
Durham Lords will kick things off tomorrow competing against St.Clair for the Bronze medal at 2:30pm.
Congratulations to both teams for matches well played. It was an exciting contest to behold.
Players of the Game:
Humber: Megan Hunt (8 Kills, 2 Aces)
Durham: Althea Boncheff (8 Kills, 1 Ace, 6 Digs)