The match was almost a copy of the match from the previous night with Lakehead playing determined volleyball for much of the first set, but then falling behind early in sets 2 & 3 and having to play from behind the rest of the way. Coach Funk said, “ I thought both teams played better than the previous night and we were fortunate to be able to play with the lead for much of the second and third sets. Our team is still learning how to play with more consistency so we have to keep our nose to the grindstone in our training to make that happen.”

Brooke Lloyd led the offense again with 13 points (12 kills, 1 ace) followed by Erinn Bickle with 10 (7 kills, 3 blocks). The Gryphons are home again next weekend when they will host the Queen’s Gaels and the RMC Paladins on Friday and Saturday nights. Game time for both is 6pm.

Story submitted by Paul Funk, Head Coach Women’s Volleyball, University of Guelph | Gryphons.ca

Headlining the major awards was 2010-11 Player of the Year Kyle Williamson (Essex, Ont.). The third-year outside hitter for the Windsor Lancers ranked first in kills this season in the OUA with 260, averaging 3.71 per game. His points per game averaged 4.36 with 19 aces and 44 blocks over the course of the season. Williamson was also named a First-Team All-Star and is the first Lancer to win the Player of the Year award.

The Rookie of the Year award went to Western’s Garrett May (Scarborough, Ont.). The first-year ranked eighth among veteran hitters in points per game with an average of 3.60 and recorded 185 kills for the Mustangs. May follows up former Rookie of the Year and teammate Phil James and is only the third player from Western to win the award. The rookie was also named a Second-Team All-Star and to the All Rookie Team.

Pat Johnston (Whitby, Ont.) of the Western Mustangs earned the Libero of the Year award for the 2010-11 season. The first to win it for the Mustangs, the fourth-year defensive specialist recorded 177 digs in 62 games this season. He also earned his first All-Star nod, making the Second-Team.

Reid Halpenny (Exeter, Ont.) of the Western Mustangs was the Dale Iwanocko Award winner, given for academics, athletics and community service. The fifth-year civil engineering student has acted as captain of the Mustangs for the last three seasons. Also excelling in the classroom, Halpenny has been named a CIS Academic All-Canadian four times. In his spare time outside of varsity volleyball, academics and playing on the Ontario provincial team, he volunteers with the London-Grand Bend Multiple Sclerosis Bicycle Relay, the Mustangs Volleyball Clinic and Camp for underprivileged children, and is a peer mentor at Exeter District High School.

Coach of the Year was awarded to Western’s Jim Sage. This is Sage’s third Coach of the Year award with the Mustangs as he also won it in 2004-05 and two years ago in 2008-09. He led the Mustangs to a first place finish in the OUA this season with an 18-2 record. He also led Western to a No. 6 national ranking among some tough west coast teams from across the country. The Mustangs host the 2011 OUA Men’s Volleyball Final Four Championship beginning Friday, February 25.

Joining Player of the Year Williamson on the First-Team All-Star list were some Queen’s Gaels repeat All-Stars. Joren Zeeman (Cambridge, Ont.) led the league in points per game with 4.82 and has been a First-Team All-Star in the last three years of his four-year career in the OUA. Teammate Michael Amoroso (Toronto) was also named a First-Team All-Star for the second time in his career with the Gaels.

From Western, Mathieu Poulin (Winnipeg) was named a First-Team All-Star for the first time in his career after his Second-Team nod last season. Marauder Tyler Santoni (Kingston, Ont.) was named a First-Team All-Star for the second year in a row and Guelph’s Winston Rosser (Whitby, Ont.) earned the First-Team nod for the first time in his career. Rounding out the list was Cameron Wheelan (Barrie, Ont.) from the Laurier Golden Hawks.

A range of athletes from different schools make up the Second-Team All-Star list. Aside from Ryerson’s Chris McLaughlin (Ottawa, Ont.), all players were named All-Stars for the first time in their careers. McLaughlin was previously named a Second-Team All-Star two years ago. VeteranJosh Lichty (St. Catharines, Ont.) who moved from left side to libero for the McMaster Marauders, earned the nod this season in the back court. Queen’s Bryan Fautley (Oakville, Ont.) also earned the Second-Team All-Star nod for the first time in his career after being named a CIS Tournament All-Star a year ago.

Jamie Stamler (North Bay, Ont.) of the Guelph Gryphons was named a Second-Team All-Star as he has helped lead his team to another Final Four appearance this year. Rookie Fiodar Kazhamiaka (Waterloo, Ont.) of the Waterloo Warriors was named an All-Star this season on both the Second-Team and the All Rookie Team.

Joining May and Kazhamiaka on the All Rookie Team are setter Aleksa Miladinovic (Toronto) of the Ryerson Rams, York Lions outside hitter Ray Szeto (Sutton, Ont.), Jordan Dyck (St. Catharines, Ont.) of the Waterloo Warriors, and Jori Mantha (Vanier, Ont.)  and Austin Campion-Smith (Bowmanville, Ont.) of the McMaster Marauders.

Western is set to host the Final Four OUA men’s volleyball championship as they face the Guelph Gryphons in semifinal action. The Queen’s Gaels take on the McMaster Marauders in the other semifinal in what is sure to be a game to remember.

For a complete list of Award Winners and All-Star Teams, click here.

Story from the OUA Website | OUA.ca

Queen’s Gaels Men’s Volleyball head coach Brenda Willis was named 2009-10 Fox 40 Ontario University Athletics (OUA) coach of the year.

Five-time OUA coach of the year and OUA 3M coaching award winner, Willis completed her 23rd campaign with the Gaels and her 36th year of coaching. Her career coaching record at Queen’s is 247-93 in OUA league competition. In 2009, Willis served as head coach of the Maccabia national men’s volleyball team, earning a bronze medal for Canada – which is the first men’s volleyball medal Canada has ever won in these games.

In 1993, she led Team Ontario to a gold medal finish in the Canada Games. Willis just completed a 10 year stint as president of the Ontario Volleyball Association, and remains an active learning facilitator for levels one through three. In 2007, she was the honoured recipient of the Rolf Lund Jule Nisse Award, presented by the Ontario Sport Alliance and the Ministry of Health Promotion to an individual who has demonstrated a life-time commitment to playground to podium sport.
In 2009-10 Willis led the men’s volleyball team to a second place finish during the regular season with a 16-4 record. After finishing second at the OUA championship the last two years, the Queen’s men’s volleyball team, led by Willis, reclaimed the OUA banner as they defeated the Western Mustangs (26-28, 16-25, 25-23, 25-22, 15-12) and the Guelph Gryphons (25-22, 17-25, 17-25, 25-22, 15-13) in thrilling five-set matches at the OUA Final Four championship.

The Gaels went on to finish fifth at the CIS championships. Queen’s has won three of the past five OUA banners, having made the final the last five seasons. She has an .800 winning percentage over these seasons, with a career coaching record of 247-93. In addition to her coaching duties, Willis also teaches in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at Queen’s.

Jamie Howieson, gogaelsgo.com

Thompson Rivers head coach Pat Hennelly said the Gaels played a solid game.

“Give Queen’s credit; they did a lot of good things,” he said. “In the fourth and the fifth, their defence really paid off. We just didn’t show enough energy.”

Queen’s head coach Brenda Willis said the team’s performance at nationals should help validate Queen’s as a solid volleyball program.

“It always feels good when you win,” she said. “We came in seeded fifth and I think a lot of people believed we shouldn’t be fifth, that we weren’t as good as anyone in Canada West. Canada West is a great conference, but we really believe that with this group of athletes, if we had the chance to play at this level all the time, we’d be as good as anybody.”

The Gaels lost their first match in straight sets to the Trinity Western Spartans Friday, knocking them out of the championship-side bracket, but they beat the Université de Montréal Carabins Saturday to advance to the fifth-place final against the WolfPack.

The Spartans went on to the tournament final, which Willis said makes the loss to them more palatable for Queen’s.

“When you lose to number-one or number-two and you win your next two, there’s nothing to be ashamed of,” she said. “We’re pretty happy.”

Queen’s setter Dan Rosenbaum said the team bounced back nicely from their opening loss.

“After day one against Trinity Western, we were pretty discouraged,” he said. “Once we realized we could still come out of the tournament with two wins and one loss, we decided to come out and play.”

Rosenbaum said the team’s performance should help OUA schools’ reputation, especially considering that the Gaels weren’t ranked in the national Top 10 heading into the tournament.

“I think it’s a good statement game for the OUA,” he said. “There’s a lot of naysayers out there that like to put down Ontario volleyball. Hopefully in the next couple of years, we can prove them wrong and be in the conversation with the top volleyball teams in the nation.”

Rosenbaum said the team’s hoping to build on this performance for the next few seasons.

“I think it works really well with our five-year plan, hosting nationals in what would be mine and Bryan and Joren [Zeeman] and Niko [Rukavina]’s fifth year,” he said. “To win OUAs and get to CIs this year was a really good experience. Hopefully we can use that to move forward next year and in our fifth year, get ready to win a medal.”

Andrew Bucholtz, queensjournal,ca

The seedings were announced Sunday evening for the 2010 CIS tourney set to kick off Friday at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, B.C. The gold-medal final of the eight-team competition is scheduled for Sunday at 3 p.m. EST

Rounding out the seedings are the No. 2 and reigning two-time CIS champion Alberta Golden Bears (Canada West champions), No. 3 Dalhousie Tigers (AUS champions), No. 4 Trinity Western Spartans (Canada West finalists), No. 5 Queen’s Gaels (OUA champions), No. 6 Calgary Dinos (Canada West bronze medallists), No. 7 Thompson Rivers WolfPack (championship hosts), and No. 8 Montreal Carabins (QSSF finalists).

SSN Canada will have live webcasts of all main-bracket duels, including the bronze-medal match.

photo courtesy: gogaelsgo.com

McMaster now has sole position of the top spot in the OUA with 22 points off their 11-2 record while Queen’s drops to 10-3 to sit behind 10-1 Western with 20 points.

The home team opened the evening with a 25-23 win but McMaster climbed back on top with two straight wins in the second and third (20-25, 13-25). The Gaels weren’t about to lose a second match to the Marauders this season and battled their way up to win the fourth by three points, 25-22. The Marauders ended Queens’ comeback efforts in the fifth set with a 15-8 win to take the game and sweep their conference schedule against Queen’s this season.

Shawn Bench (Hamilton) was MAC’s scoring leader, recording 19 points off 15 kills, two aces and four solo blocks. Jeremy Groenveld (Welland, Ont.) also contributed 17 points and 11 kills in the win while Ryan Hudson (Wininpeg, MB) had 38 out of the team’s 42 assists.

Joren Zeeman (Cambridge, Ont.) topped the Gaels’ roster with a game high of 25 points and 21 kills.

Source: Charlotte Peer, Athletic Communications.

Get the full story from Michael Grobe, gogaelsgo.com

Queen’s will host game one of the three-game OUA Final on Tuesday, February 17. Play begins at 7:00pm inside Bartlett Gymnasium on campus at Queen’s University. McMaster will host the remaining games of the series on Thursday, February 19 and if necessary Saturday, February 21.