OVA News

If Jeff Vermaas’s plan comes to fruition, a new Ontario Volleyball Association-sanctioned boys club will be starting in Halton this fall.

Citing the region as “underserved” in terms of opportunities for young men to play the sport, the 45-year-old father of two is hoping to get enough members for one or two teams at the 14-15 age group.

Vermaas says the club is designed for players who have already played volleyball in school who hope to reach the ultimate goal of the national championships.

“It’s not only an experience to reach the upper echelon in volleyball, but I think it’s a positive life experience,” he said. “It’s positive in terms of health and fitness in their future endeavors down the road. Hopefully it teaches them discipline and time management, and teamwork, all those things that will come into play during their lives.”

Vermaas, who has lived in Burlington for seven years, says he started noticed continuing requests for a boys league from other parents at his daughter’s volleyball club as far back as four years ago.

And while he doesn’t rule out the possibility of a more “grassroots” type club in the future, Vermaas says for now there will be three training camps held in the summer before the next OVA season begins.

Vermaas played the sport while attending the University of Toronto from 1984-88 and has coached at Ryerson and Upper Canada College. He currently coaches a girls team at the Halton Region Volleyball Club in Burlington.

For more information, contact Jeff at jeffv@hofland.com.

Once again, the sporting gods throw McMaster a karmic curveball.

In a fitting twist to the OUA volleyball campaign, the Marauders will meet the Guelph Gryphons in their semi-final encounter this Friday, March 5. The Gryphons have been a perpetual thorn in Mac’s side this season, beating the OUA leaders in both of their previous games (3-1 and 3-0). Considering that the Marauders lost only three games in total, Guelph’s achievement is both impressive and puzzling. Either way, Mac will have the chance to redeem themselves in elimination play and put an end to the giant-killers.

Read more from Fraser Caldwell, the Si.ca

Queens University punched in its ticket to this weekend’s conference Final Four men’s volleyball tournament eliminating the University of Toronto Varsity Blues 25-15, 25-14, 27-25 on Friday night in OUA Conference quarterfinal action.

The Gaels, vying for their third Ontario university title in five years, were led by Joren Zeeman with 15 points, one of four players on the team to score in double digits. Mitchell Woodside and Adam Palmer had eight points each for Toronto.

McMaster has a bye to the Final Four as the top regular season team.

Read more including CIS West ,Volleyball Canada

University of Toronto Varsity Blues

In the 2007-2008 OUA championship final it was the McMaster Marauders defeating the Varsity Blues at the University of Toronto. The Blues returned the favour Saturday night at McMaster’s Burridge Gym, sweeping the OUA final 3-0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-19). They are heading west to the University of Alberta in Edmonton to compete for the CIS Championships to be held  from Friday, March 5 to Sunday, March 7.

- Follow the Blues… http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/wvball
- TV: Bronze-medal game and final on Shaw (local) and Star Choice (across Canada)
- Webcast (SSN Canada): All games (main bracket & consolation)
- Live stats: Available on website
- Berths (8 teams): Host (Alberta), CWUAA (3), QSSF (2), OUA (1), AUS (1)

A dominating season to say the least, it was only fitting for the powerful Humber Hawks to walk away with a Men’s Volleyball Provincial Championship and a trip to the CCAA Nationals in Alberta. The Hawks defeated the Seneca Sting in the Gold medal match 3-0. Game scores were 25-15, 25-22, and 25-23. Humber finished the regular season winning the West Division Championship while the Seneca Sting won the East Division Championship.

In the Championship game, Terrel Bramwell led the Humber attack with 20 kills and 21 offensive points. Brian Archibald countered for the Sting with 17 kills.

Humber picks up the Gold, and Seneca the Silver, and it was the host Redeemer Royals who edged out Mohawk College for the Bronze medal. In the bronze medal game the Royals came through in a 5 set thriller after being down 2-0 to start. Game scores were 17-25, 21-25, 25-19, 25-15, and 15-10. This is Redeemer’s first ever Men’s Volleyball medal.

For the Hawks, Jordan Langley and Derek Quinn were named as Tournament All-Stars along with Jason Hernandez and Brain Archibald from the Seneca Sting, and Ryan Talsma for the Redeemer Royals. Humber Hawk Terrel Bramwell was named the 2010 VSP OCAA Men’s Volleyball Championship Tournament MVP.

Women, Cambrian College, Sudbury
The Nipissing Lady Lakers just missed out on a provincial championship, dropping the final two sets and settling for silver against the Humber Hawks in the OCAA Women’s Volleyball Championship game, Saturday.

Leading 2-1 after the first three sets, the Lady Lakers couldn’t close it out, with Humber rallying to take the final two sets in a 3-2 victory (20-25, 25-19, 19-25, 25-18, 15-9). It was Humber’s third consecutive OCAA women’s championship and Nipissing’s third straight silver.

The Mohawk Mountaineers won the bronze medal with a tough 3-2 battle over the Fanshawe Falcons of London, 25-23, 25-19 23-25, 23-25, 15-11.

nugget.ca + hamiltonscores.com

Ryan Talsma OCAA Player of the Year

It was a fitting end to a storied career for Redeemer University College’s Ryan Talsma who was honoured as the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association’s Men’s Volleyball Player of the Year at the OCAA championship breakfast banquet in Ancaster.

The Orono, Ontario native, finished the 2009-10 season ranking in the top three in four of the six West Region statistical categories including finishing second in total kills, service aces, total points and points per game average. He also ranked eighth in digs. A fourth year veteran, Talsma rewrote the OCAA’s record books this season becoming the All-time leader for kills in a career with 719 and total career points with 907. He also sits fifth in career aces with 103.

“Ryan Talsma is a humble leader that never gets bigger than the game,” said the Redeemer coaching staff. “He is the consummate teammate who works hard building relationships with his team mates that transcend the game. His leadership, natural gifts and his work ethic have made him one of the most feared players in the OCAA and across the country.”
Ryan was also honoured with his third consecutive CCAA All-Canadian Nomination and will be heading to Grant McEwan in Edmonton, Alberta to receive the honour at the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association’s Men’s Volleyball Championship banquet. He will be joined by Humber College’s Terrel Bramwell.

Bramwell took the OCAA by storm this season as one of the most electrifying hitters to grace the OCAA courts. The first year player was honoured as the OCAA’s Men’s Rookie of the Year, League and Regional scoring champion and as a CCAA All-Canadian.

“Terrel may be the most explosive rookie in the history of the OCAA,” commented Humber Head Coach Wayne Wilkins. “He has rocketed himself to be one of the best players in the province. He came to Humber from the heavily touted and nationally recognized Pakmen Volleyball Club. His athleticism is something to behold, as he jumps higher and hits harder than most. He adds a jump serve to his game that consistently draws aces.”

The Redeemer men’s program was not finished collecting the hardware as Wayne Harris was named the OCAA’s Men’s Coach of the Year and will be in the final mix as the CCAA National Coach of the Year award of excellence to be named in Edmonton.

redeemer.ca/athletics

Men’s Updates and live action from OCAA Championships at Redeemer College, Ancaster

Women’s Updates and live action from OCAA Championships at Cambrian College, Sudbury

The Eagles are soaring again.

The Quinte Christian High School Eagles ended a 21-year drought Wednesday by winning their first COSSA ‘A’ junior girls volleyball championship since 1988.

And they did it the hard way by defeating perennial champion Ecole Secondaire Marc Garneau Astros of Trenton.

The Astros went into the COSSA tournament riding a nine-year junior winning streak.

But the Astros couldn’t make it 10 titles in a row as a balanced Eagles squad took the championship with a thrilling 25-16, 26-24 victory in front of a packed home gym.

“All season long we seemed to have different players make key contributions at different times,” said Eagles coach Steve VandeHoef. “This was really a team effort.”

Get the full story Ady Voss, The Intelligencer

After a rocky start, Victory Volleyball is poised to make major inroads into the volleyball community as it enters just its second year of operations. The Mississauga facility officially opened for competition and training in December of 2008 offering leagues, camps, clinics and weekend tournaments for pre-teens, teens and adults.

Victory Volleyball is beginning to find ground as one of the top facilities for indoor volleyball events after the initial growth pains spurned by a struggling economy, coupled with challenges not uncommon to many budding, specialized sport facilities.

Victory Volleyball founder and championship coach Richard McArthur opened the facility with a dream to bring volleyball to the forefront of the Canadian sport community. Currently Victory provides a place where thousands of local volleyball players to play at multiple levels of competition, in addition to providing youth with the opportunity to come for lessons, house leagues, summer and holiday camps, and private tutoring.

Victory encourages the Ontario volleyball community to join with them as they move towards a promising 2010 season dedicated to growing competitive and recreational volleyball within the province.

Victory Volleyball Academy is a multi-court, indoor, hard court facility located at the corner of Torbram Rd. and Derry Rd. in Mississauga. The facility features Sport Court Flooring, used by the NCAA. It is the official surface of the International Volleyball League. It is Ontario’s only dedicated indoor, hard court volleyball facility.

Richard McArthur – rick@victoryvolleyball.com
905.908.2588 – www.victoryvolleyball.com

Mohawk College’s volleyball teams are headed to the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association championships.

The Mountaineer men mounted a furious fourth set comeback on the way to a 3-1 (25-20, 16-25, 25-19, 26-24) victory over the Trent Excalibur in crossover playoff action at the Fennell Gymnasium on Saturday (Feb. 20). Mohawk was led by Mo Sulaiman with 16 points (14 kills), Ian Cameron with 14 points (11 kills) and Cam Henschel (four kills, five stuff blocks) in the closely contested match.

The Mountaineers trailed 21-17 in the fourth set before roaring back, led by the inspired play of setter Zac Schulz.

Trent was led by Alex Gastel, who had 12 points (10 kills), and Joshua Neadow’s defense throughout.

The OCAA men’s volleyball championship will be played at Redeemer University College in Ancaster on the Feb. 25-27 weekend.

Meanwhile, the Mountaineer women also advanced to their OCAA championship, after a 3-0 (25-16, 25-16, 25-13) decision over the Seneca Sting.

“It was the Jenn Knowles show,” said Mohawk head coach Sean Pellow. “They were not able to stop her. We played solid defense and served tough, which kept them off balance.”

Lauren Aquilina was also very strong for the home side. Mohawk will play Trent in the women’s quarter finals in Sudbury next Thursday.

Al Craig, Hamilton Scores

Her call for athletic tape, bandaids, gauze or other medical supplies that can be spared to donate to the Haiti disaster victims and for a village in the Dominican Republic has been inspiring. Athletes and participants are contributing to the Medical Aid Campaign ( M.A.C.) that Mountain Athletic Club Volleyball 18U Girls libero Mikaila Nederveen is organizing.

Mikaila is asking athletes who will be attending MAC Volleyball hosted tournaments to donate medical supplies for disaster relief in Haiti and for the Dominican Republic. The Red Cross, Canadian Food for Children and Moms for Haiti will benefit from the donations.

She will be traveling on the March break to build homes in a remote village in the Dominican Republic as a participant in the St. Mary Secondary School D.R.E.A.M.S. (Dominican Republic Educational And Medical Supplies ) Project. Their airline has allowed the students extra suitcases for medical supplies only and Mikaila hopes to fill four suitcases with donated supplies from athletes participating at MAC Volleyball hosted tournaments.

MAC Volleyball recently hosted the 18U Boys and Girls Bugarski Cup — Premier at McMaster University as well as the 16U Boys Challenge Cup — Championship West at St. Mary’s Secondary School in Hamilton. Despite local retailers being open on campus, athletes, coaches, parents and tournament spectators not only supported the volunteer run concession but also filled one suitcase for M.A.C. Cares including a pair of crutches and a walking cast.

“This is really encouraging” said Mikaila “ We are very fortunate to have the opportunity to play the sports we love. There are young people like us who have had their lives destroyed and may never reach their full potential because of extreme poverty. This is one way we can help out and I am proud to do this with the support of my volleyball community.” She is also planning on bringing along some volleyballs to leave with the children.

Look for the Medical Aid Campaign (M.A.C.) Cares suitcase at the MAC Volleyball hosted tournaments (Feb. 20th and 27th, March 6th) and give generously.

Submitted by Mountain Athletic Club (MAC) Volleyball