The Durham Lords women’s volleyball team returned from the OCAA championships with a bronze medal.
The bronze medal game was between the Lords and defending gold champions, the Humber Hawks, who were competing for third after losing 3-0 against Fanshawe in the semi-finals.
The Lords conquered their season, going into the tournament with an 18-0 winning streak. Their perfect streak was cut short after a 3-1 defeat at the hands of the Niagara Knights in their semi-final match.
According to Lords’ middle hitter Cassidy Nicholson-Clarke, it still felt good to come away with a medal.
“It’s kind of upsetting that we didn’t win gold or silver but it feels good just to win bronze especially because we beat Humber,” Nicholson-Clarke said, mentioning the Hawks’ track record for success at the OCAA championships. Humber entered the championship with eleven consecutive gold medal wins.
Fanshawe went on to take the gold this year, beating Niagara 3-0 in the final match.
Lords outside hitter Allyson Terwillegar said the results of the championship helped the team grow.
“Of course, it sucked when we lost the semi-final match but we learned from it and it taught us to lose and how to recover from that. I feel like even though we didn’t get gold we still ended up coming out successful,” Terwillegar said.
Head coach Tony Clarke was also hoping for a gold medal.
“We had a goal of getting a little different colour medal, it’s unfortunate that we lost that semi-final match but I was really happy with how the girls responded to play that bronze medal game and to beat a good quality team like Humber,” Clarke said.
Clarke is looking to push the team even further next season, and is hoping to be even more competitive than they were last season.
Outside hitter Megan Romain, who is graduating from the human resources program, is potentially the only player leaving the Lords’ roster, according to Clarke.
“Courses could be something that [students] don’t like but we’re hoping to have them all return and then add a few more pieces to the puzzle,” Clarke said, referring to recruiting more talent to the team next season.
According to Terwillegar, the most memorable part of this season is the close bond the team built.
“We all get along so well compared to past years. We like to hang out outside of volleyball, we would go for food all the time, we would hang out between classes, it was like a second family at school,” Terwillegar said.
