Redeemer University College

Royals Volleyball Goes 1-3 in Crucial Northern Away Trip 
February 6, 2010
North Bay, Ontario

It was an important weekend for the Royals volleyball teams as the women's team was looking to stay in the playoff hunt while the men's team was looking to clinch a bye into the men's volleyball championships. Unfortunately for the Royals neither happened going 1-4 on the weekend.

The women knocked themselves out of playoff contention with a 0-2 weekend with losses to Canadore College 3-0 (25-15, 25-23, 25-16) and Nipissing University 3-0 (26-24, 28-26, 25-18). In a must win game against Canadore, the women came out flat and could never really find there stride being dominated by the Panthers all match. Then on Saturday against one of the best teams in the province, the Royals came out hungry playing completely different volleyball than Friday. Despite losing 3-0, the Royals played their best matche of the season and took Nipissing to extra points in the first two games before dropping the third. Erika Straatsma had a combined 18 points over both games scoring 6 against Canadore and 12 agasint Nipissing.

The men went 1-2 on the weekend with a win against Candore College 3-1 (25-15, 23-25, 25-20, 25-17) and a loss against Nipissing University 3-2 (17-25, 25-21, 21-25, 25-23, 15-12). The Royals had the potential to clinch a bye into the OCAA Men's Volleyball Provincial Championships (being hosted by Redeemer) with a win against Nipissing but couldn't close out the match after being up 2-1. Nipissing rallied back taking the 4th game and the deciding 5th game. Ryan Talsma and Brad Douwes had monster weekends for the Royals combining for an incredible 80 points over the two games. Douwes put up 21 points against Canadore and 12 against Nipissing while Talsma put up 20 against Canadore and 27 against Nipissing.

Next up for the Royals Volleyball teams is Mohawk College at home on Saturday February 13th. In their biggest game of the season, the men's team can potentially clinch a spot in the provincial championships with a win against the Mountainers. The women take the court at 6:00pm while the men are up at 8:00pm.