Reporter: Luke Callebert
The Humber Hawks secured the last semi-final spot, rolling to victory over the Durham Lords in the OCAA women’s volleyball championships. Humber is looking to win its seventh straight OCAA title. The set scores were 25-9, 21-25, 25-19 and 25-16 in Humber’s favour.
In the first set the Lords were no match for the firepower of Humber up front. Kelly Nyhof and Thalia Hanniman provided the kills while Humber played stellar defence, stopping most attacks from Durham and leading to the lopsided 25-9 score.
The second set was a different story.
The Lords came out firing and the Hawks looked sluggish. Durham played with an energy head coach Shane Christopher had been looking for all season long. The Lords attacked their way to a 25-21 set victory. It was only Humber’s seventh set lost all season.
“Durham came out and gave us a match,” said Humber head coach Chris Wilkins. “They’re a well-coached team and Shane does a great job with that team.”
The Lords lost the energy they had found midway through the third set. With Durham leading 9-5 early in the third, Humber called a timeout. After the timeout, Durham lost their composure and ended up losing the set 25-19. From there, the Lords fought hard but never seemed to match the potent offence of Humber.
“It was one of the best matches we’ve played all year,” said Christopher. “I’m proud the girls. They executed our game plan.”
Christopher thought coming into the game that Durham was the team in the tournament that matched up best against the dominating Hawks.
Outside hitter Rayan Bourne was the standout player for the Lords. Named game MVP, she finished with six kills, two aces and a blocked shot. Setter Joelle Parnham also had an excellent game, finishing with 22 assists while adding five digs and three aces to her stat line.
