OSHAWA, Ont. – The Durham College volleyball teams will face their biggest tests of the season this week as they travel to their respective championships starting Thursday.
On the men's side the Lords finished with a 16-2 regular season record and will open the OCAA championship, hosted by Mohawk College in Hamilton, on Thursday at 3 p.m. against the Redeemer Royals.
This will be the second meeting between the two teams this season, with Durham winning their match 3-2 at the Niagara Knights Invitational in early January.
"You work towards this all season and we feel we're ready for any team we face this weekend, but right now we're just focused on Redeemer on Thursday afternoon," said Lords head coach
George Matsusaki. "Just because we won against the Royals doesn't mean it will be an easy match at all. We have to execute and although we've shown we can beat them, we still need to be the better team when we face them again because the championship is a clean start for everyone."
Durham will look to end their drought at the championship as the Lords haven't won a match since they defeated the Niagara Knights 3-2 in the 2014 OCAA quarter-final. Call it a coincidence, but
Bret Polfuss (Kitchener, Ont.) who has been leading the Lords this season, was a member of the Knights team that season.
He goes into this year's championship in the top 15 provincially in points per set and kills per set. At the net both
Harrison Wood (Uxbridge, Ont.) and
Mike Harper (Oakville, Ont.) are in the top ten in blocks per set with 0.93 and 0.67 respectively.
And the guy behind all of the offence, setter
John Pham (Mississauga, Ont.), is not to be forgotten as he is currently third in the country in assists per set. He also leads the Lords in digs per set with 2.0.
"We feel we have great group here at Durham this season," said Matsusaki. "Their focus as we've progressed through the season has been outstanding and at this point I'm excited to get started in the quarter-final."
In Windsor, the Durham women's team will look to get back to the final four for the third straight season under head coach
Tony Clarke. Since taking over the program he has won silver (2015) and lost the bronze medal match last year 3-2 to the Fanshawe Falcons.
That is who they will open this year's championship against – with the first serve slated for 1:30 p.m. on Friday at St. Clair College. The Lords (18-0) have yet to face the Falcons (10-8) since last year.
"Last season we were obviously disappointed to not bring home a medal, but feel with the players we have returning this year that they are able to use their experience as a way to hopefully get a better result as a team this weekend," said Clarke. "I felt we had an extremely competitive team in 2015-16 and the addition of a few players on top of those returning should allow us to be in the mix in Windsor."
The 2015-16 OCAA coach of the year added three valuable starters to his lineup, most notably
Shannon Dean (Whitby, Ont.) who is enroled at Durham College in the additions and mental health program. She joined the Lords after spending four years with the Windsor Lancers and immediately made a mark in the OCAA.
She currently leads the province in hitting percentage, is second in aces per set, top ten in kills per set and third in the OCAA in points per set with 4.2.
Allison Marshall (Orillia, Ont.), who recently scored her 1,000
th point in her OCAA career isn't far off Dean's output as she is top five in kills per set, top ten in points per set with 4.0 and top ten in aces per set.
On the rookie side of things, Clarke also added
Jessica Joensen (Pickering, Ont.) who has become a key player in the Lords success in conference play this season. Other additions include
Madeleine Elit (Trenton, Ont.) who has become a regular in the middle and
Brier Kaake (Whitby, Ont.) who moved into the starting role at libero – taking over the reigns on the defensive side of the game.
Kaake leads Durham with 2.64 digs per set, which puts her in the top 15 in the province in her first season with the Lords.
"We have a fantastic group with the combination of our returning players and those that are new to the roster this season," said Clarke. "Since day one our goal was to earn a bye to the championship and then to earn our way back to the final four. The first part of our goal is complete and now we're looking ahead to Fanshawe. We've told the team that this is like the 'second-half' of our season and that everything before it doesn't matter. We enjoyed going undefeated and winning a second straight east region title briefly as the championship is what we've worked hard for all year."
OCAA Men's Volleyball Championship presented by belairdirect website
http://ocaa.com/championships/mvbl/2016-17/index
OCAA Women's Volleyball Championship presented by belairdirect website
http://ocaa.com/championships/wvbl/2016-17/index
