The Lady Royals women's volleyball team has quietly put themselves into 4th place in the OCAA West Division. The team, led by Head Coach Doug Veldman, has been steadily improving and with one month to go, finds themselves in the middle of the playoff race.

Despite a 3-2 record so far in January, the Royals should be very optimistic. The two loses in 2013 came at the hands of Nipissing University, who sit in 2nd place in the OCAA West with a 12-2 record, and the Fanshawe Falcons who occupy 3rd place with a 11-3 record. Nipissing is Nationally ranked at #11 in Canada while the Falcons currently sit at #13. The teams are ranked #2 and #3 respectively in Ontario.

Both matches against the top opponents could arguably have gone the distance as well. Redeemer fell to Nipissing on January 11th 3-1, but lost the 4th set 28-26. On Friday night, the Royals played Fanshawe at home and despite losing 3-1, held a 21-17 lead in the 3rd set. A 9-3 run for Fanshawe gave the Falcons a 2-1 lead in the match. Had Redeemer held on for the 3rd set win, the Royals would have either won the game in the 4th set or at the very least, taken Fanshawe to a 5th set.

Full match scores for Friday's game were 25-18, 22-25, 26-24, 25-14.

On Saturday, the Royals rebounded from their dissappointing loss to Fanshawe with a 3-0 sweep of the St. Clair Saints. Game scores were 25-11, 25-11, and 25-22.

2nd year, Curtiss Straatsma, continued to be a large part of the Royals recent success. On Friday night, Straatsma put up 19 kills and 24 points. On Saturday against St. Clair, she followed it up with 12 kills and 13 points.

Transfer student Yakira Smeltzer has been making an impact as well. Smeltzer was almost immediately inserted into the starting lineup for the Lady Royals when she arrived in January. Smeltzer put up 6 points on Friday night and 10 points on Saturday afternoon. April Passchier added 8 points for Redeemer on Friday and 7 points on Saturday.

Optimism continues to surround the team as the Lady Royals have their playoff aspirations in their own hands. They no longer need to rely on any of their opponents in the OCAA, just themselves.

After splitting the weekend 1-1, Redeemer will now turn their attention to a huge tilt on Friday night when the Royals travel to Niagara College. Niagara sits just 2 points back of the Lady Royals and will be looking to close the gap. In their first meeting this season, Redeemer won 3-2 at home.