The hype surrounding the home openers of the men's and women's volleyball season lived up to expectations as both games went the distance in dramatic five game matches. Unfortunately for the Royals they were on the loosing end of both, falling 3-2 to the Fanshawe Falcons (London, ON) in both games. In the men's and women's matches, the Redeemer teams were always trailing as Fanshawe won the first, third, and fifth games of each match.

The Royals teams played before a packed house of about 400 people as the Royals fans came out in full support to kick off the 2011-2012 volleyball seasons and proved that it will be very tough for any team to come into the Royals gym and steal a victory away from Redeemer this year.

In the women's match, after dropping the first game 25-21, the Lady Royals stormed back with a 25-16 win in the second. After exchanging games once again with Fanshawe winning the third and Redeemer winning the 4th, the teams headed to their first 5 game match of the season. However, a rough start for the women put them in a large enough hole that they could never recover as they fell 15-8 and dropped the match 3-2. Veteran Ashley Muller (Oakville, ON) and first year Curtiss Straatsma (Brampton, ON) led the way offensively for the Royals with 9 and 10 points respectively. 1st year libero Rebekah Wright (Burlington, ON) controlled things on the defensive end making great plays to extend a number of rallies. Fanshawe Kaitlyn Kelly led all scorers with 11 total offensive points.

The men's match was strikingly similar to the women's as both the Royals and Falcons exchanged games back and forth until finally ending up at a fifth and deciding game. The Royals always seemed to be clawing back as they fell behind 1-0 and then 2-1 but were able to tie it up each time forcing the fifth game backed by a boisterous crowd. Unfortunately, the men's team fate equaled the Lady Royals as they too couldn't close out the match loosing 16-14 in the fifth and the match 3-2. For the Royals, 4 players hit double figures as they spread around the offense. Steve Stone (St. Catharines, ON) had 15 points, 1st year Eric Heidbuurt (Waterdown, ON) had 14 points, and David Klomps (Surrey, BC) and Aaron Vanderlugt (Burlington, ON) each had 10 points. Sam Youlton of Fanshawe tied Stone with a game high of 15 points.

The Royals will now need to rebound quickly as they hit the road on Wednesday and travel to Niagara College to battle the Knights as the both look for their first wins of the season.