OVA News

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

Markham-Stouffville 15U Stingers

This season, the Markham-Stouffville Stingers 15U Boys team has experienced quite the run. The team has managed to compile a record of 14 wins, 1 loss, and 2 ties in 15U competition so far. Starting off the year ranked dead last in our age group, we came away with gold medals at both the Provincial Cup in December and the McGregor Cup in January. We also picked up a bronze medal two weekends ago at the 16U McGregor Cup in Stouffville.

By winning gold at the last 15U tournament, we qualified to compete in the premier division for the first time this past weekend. Ranked tenth out of 11 teams, we picked up wins over 6th ranked Ottawa Fusion, 4th ranked MAC, and second ranked Durham Attack Black en route to the finals.
Although we came up short against Pakmen in the gold medal match, we proved to ourselves and our competition that we are among the top 15U teams in the province.

As head coach of this team I have to say that I am constantly impressed with how well these boys work together on the court. There exists among them a certain unspoken trust and confidence that is rarely seen in any teams, let alone a group of 14-year-old boys. They are consistent, determined, and calm under fire.

Moving forward into the last few events of the season, I am excited to see the continual growth and development of this team. With Provincials coming up in April and Nationals in May, who knows what can happen?

Team members: Jordan Saddler (MB-captain), Calvin Ho (S-captain), Wilson Chan (MB/RS), Ian Macdonald (RS), Jordan Crompton (LS), Alex Midgette (LS), Jacob King (MB), Curtis Fordyce (LS), Jeffrey Ng (RS), and Marco Ayoub (MB).

Submitted by Mike Rockman
Head Coach, Markham 15U Boys

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Northumberland Breakers 16U girls volleyball team: Abbey Maclean, Andrea Hone, Cindy Lang, Emily Wannamaker, Hannah Houston, Heather Behan, Madison Rae-White, Madison Turnbull, Nina Vahamaki, Taylor Macdonald-Plummer and coach Tim White.

ALL THE TRAINING PAID OFF for the Northumberland Breakers 16U girls team when they attended their first tournament of the season, the Ontario Volleyball Association’s Provincial Cup held in Kingston last month.

The 10 girls who comprise this team dug deep and killed it when they won all six matches leading to the gold medal showdown, where they
beat the Maverick Trailblazers from Ottawa in straight sets, 25-17 and 25-18.

“It was totally exciting. We were all in the zone, completely focused on what needed to be done,” said setter Emily Wannamaker.

“We rocked it!”

Coach Tim White started with the Breakers this past fall and brings with him many years of volleyball playing and coaching experience.

“It was a great start to the season,” White said of the tournament.

“The girls really came together and played as a team.”

Northumberlandtoday.com

Don’t judge the Loyola Hawks senior girls’ volleyball team by its mediocre record in Halton league play.

The Hawks stunned everyone — including themselves — at last week’s Ontario Catholic Classic tournament, winning 18 of the 19 sets they played to claim the championship at the prestigious competition.

Loyola defeated another surprise finalist, the St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders, 25-13, 25-23 in an all-Oakville final Friday afternoon at Loyola.

Hawks coach Toni Babic said winning the ‘A’ championship proves her team is capable of much more than the 4-4 record they carried into yesterday’s (Tuesday’s) action might suggest. Loyola was decimated by injuries earlier this season, but the returns of Nicole Garcia, Paige
Vukson and Martin Killeen have made an immediate difference.

“We finally have a full team of healthy girls,” said Babic, admitting she didn’t expect her team to even qualify for the ‘A’ division playoffs at the 24-team tournament. “This is a really nice way to go into our league playoffs. It’s great for our girls to see they have the potential to come together and work well as a team.”

Jon Kuiperij, BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR

Get the full story with photos insideHalton.com

Scarborough will be looking to repeat its dominance in high school girls volleyball this post season, both at the city and provincial level. Last year, Scarborough almost achieved an unprecedented sweep of both triple- and quad-A levels at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) provincial finals: Sir Oliver Mowat won triple-A and Birchmount Park settled for quad-A silver.

Both had won their respective triple- and quad-A titles at the city level. Interestingly, at the divisional level (where both competed together), Mowat won the Scarborough (east) division championship 3-0 over Birchmount.

Further underscoring, Scarborough’s dominance in girls volleyball, last season’s junior city title was won by Woburn 2-0 over Etobicoke’s Richview.

Interestingly, this season, the above noted three Scarborough schools dominated the Scarborough division at the senior level. Final regular season standings were: Mowat 9-0; Woburn 8-1; and Birchmount Park 7-2.

They all avoided upsets in the opening quarterfinal round of the playoffs on Monday, Feb. 8, winning in straight sets.

Also winning was fourth place finisher Albert Campbell in straight sets over fifth place finisher Sir John A Macdonald. Both finished the regular season with 5-4 records.

Semifinal action on Wednesday, Feb. 10 had, Mowat 3-0 over Albert Campbell (5-4); and Woburn 3-1 over Birchmount Park (7-2). They are set to play the east division final Wednesday, Feb. 17 at Sir Oliver Mowat.

This year’s east division junior volleyball championship, also being played at Mowat on Feb. 17, is also between the Top 2 teams – Dr. Norman Bethune (9-0) and Sir John A Macdonald (7-2).

Norm Nelson, InsideToronto.com

Alix Hill (left) and Teodora Lazic of the Waterloo Tigers 15U volleyball team block during an exhibition game against the Tigers 16U team. Photo: Mathew McCarthy, Record staff

As the eighth ranked squad in Ontario in its age division, the Waterloo Tigers 15U Black team has its sights set on tier-one competition among the 24 top teams in the Ontario championships to be held at RIM Park in April.

To help the Tigers get there, the team, lead by coach Marek Gwozdz, has been ratcheting up its practice and exhibition-game schedule this winter. Co-captain Teodora Lazic, 14, attributes the team’s success to its work ethic and good team unity.

“I think we really get along well on and off the court,” she says. “We know how to play together, and when we make a mistake we
fix it together. We have good communication as a team.”

I watched the Tigers play a mid-week exhibition game at Eastwood Collegiate against the Waterloo club’s 16U team as they prepare for the Feb. 13 Challenge Cup premier tournament at Forest Heights Collegiate, which will feature teams from Scarborough, London and Etobicoke.

“We’re definitely ready to improve our ranking. We’re seeded 7th in the tournament,” says Gwozdz. “The Challenge Cup will be tough, but that’s what happens when you compete against the best of the best.”

That competition is fierce indeed. The Tigers struggled this past weekend in a 16U tournament, though they did take the No. 1 seed Halton Hurricanes to three games before losing – and with a short bench of only eight players.

The team has played together for about three years, with some of the girls coming through the club’s house league and development programs. Co-captain Shae Reaman knows they will have to be nearly perfect whenever they meet the older, stronger competition ahead.

“We have to communicate and help each other when we get down. We have a tight relationship with each other and will need that when we get tired.”

Unlike minor rep soccer or hockey, volleyball is a tournament sport. The Tigers don’t play in a league; rather, they practice, play exhibition games and enter Ontario Volleyball Association sanctioned tournaments.

Exhibition games like the one against the 16U Tigers hone their competitive edge for the big tournaments. And they’ve had some success playing against older teams, Gwozdz points out. He’s a firm believer in the value that competition provides.

“Highly competitive players thrive in a highly competitive environment that leads to fun, team-building, and close friendships that last a lifetime. We played a 16U tournament in Wingham in January and ended up winning silver. That’s an outstanding achievement for a team that is a year younger.”

The night I watched the Tigers, it wasn’t to be. They suffered a loss – a rare “off night” Gwozdz describes it – but they showed they possess good power on serves and accuracy on kills as well as quickness, agility and that important team unity.

They’ll need it all because ahead on their competition calendar is the national championships in Sherbrooke, Que. in May and a tough tourney in the United States.

“We finish off our season with a bang, competing in the huge Happy Volley Club Championships hosted by Penn State University at the end of May. It features 350 teams from all over North America,” Gwozdz says.

In the short term, the Tigers will need to execute their best skills in every game during the Forest Heights tournament this weekend as their mettle is tested against some very solid squads.

“We want to place in the top three so we can stay in the Premiership division and get ranked as high as we can in provincials,” Lazic says. “We want to do our best.”

Andrew Coppolino, The Record