A busy weekend for the Royals has come to an end. What follows, is just a few days before the start of the volleyball and basketball seasons as well as the OCAA Provincial Championships for the Cross Country team. Below are the results from this past weekend.
Badminton
It was a very successful opening weekend for the Royals Badminton team. Redeemer showed quite strong in all disciplines. On Friday, Redeemer was led by 1st year Owen Kurvits who qualified for the Men's Singles semifinals where he was finally defeated 21-17, 21-18 by Ryan Chow of Humber College. Chow was the eventual winner of the Men's Singles event. Kurvits finished with a 4-1 record.
Friday also had the Men's and Women's doubles teams on the court. The Women's doubles pairing of Julie Koopmans and Robyn Bennett won their first match of the day but lost their second, bumping them down to the B flight. However, Koopmans and Bennett went on to win 3 matches in a row to capture the B Flight Championship. After losing their first match of the day, Dan Vandenboogaard and Nathan Tucker went on to win the C Flight Championship with 4 straight wins.
On Saturday, mixed pairing of Owen Kurvits and Robyn Bennett played some inspired badminton making it all the way to the A flight finals with a 5-0 record. On their way to the final, Redeemer defeated some very strong teams including last year's Provincial gold medalists and CCAA bronze medalists. Kurvits and Bennett ran out of steam in the finals falling to Humber's Tracy Wong and Andrew Lau in two games.
Basketball
Redeemer's Basketball teams were competing at Rochester College in Rochester Hills, Michigan over the weekend. Both teams got a great look at some talented competition in preparation for their season openers this upcoming week.
On Thursday, Rochester College defeated the women's team 65-54, in a very close contest. Larissa Smeltzer had a team-high 15 points for Redeemer. The men's team also fell to Rochester College 80-61. On the men's side, Rochester is the defending USCAA National Champions. Josh DeSchiffert led the team with 15 points.
On Friday, the Lady Royals picked up a big win against Henry Ford College 60-48. Lindsay Moffat led Redeemer with 25 points and 6 rebounds. The men's team ran their record to 0-2 with a defeat at the hands of St. Clair College (USA) in a very close game, 83-79. Michael Duah had 20 points while Calvin Turnbull had 15 points and 17 rebounds.
Saturday saw a repeat match-up for both teams against Rochester College. The women's team fell back slightly with a 95-54 loss while the men's team closed the gap with a very competitive 77-71 loss.
Both teams' head to Mohawk College on Wednesday October 23rd for their OCAA league season openers.
Volleyball
It was a great season opening exhibition tournament for both the Women's and Men's volleyball teams as both found success to start the 2013-2014 season. The Men's team made it to the bronze medal match of the Seneca Sting tournament while the Lady Royals made it to the finals of the Sheridan Bruins tournament.
With an undefeated record of 3-0, the Royals cruised through the round robin games of the tournament straight into the semifinals. In round robin play, Redeemer defeated George Brown College (3-2) and Loyalist College (3-1) on Friday night and Mohawk College (3-1) on Saturday morning.
The Royals squared off against a strong team from Durham College in the semifinals and defeated them 3-1 for a spot in the Championship game. In the final, Redeemer tired quickly, falling to Trent University 3-1 for the 2nd place finish.
The men's team opened their tournament with a 3-0 win over the host Seneca Sting. Up 2-1 in their second game, Redeemer was unable to hold on as the dropped a 5 set decision to Fanshawe College.
The Royals then defeated Sheridan College 3-0 to finish 2nd in their pool and automatically put them in the 3rd place game where they took on Humber College. Redeemer fell 3-0 to the Hawks.
Both teams' head to Conestoga College on Wednesday October 23rd for their OCAA league season openers.
Cross Country
Both men's and women's cross country teams competed at the OUA Brock Invitational on Saturday in their final tune-up of the season. Both teams ran strong in preparation for this upcoming weekend's Provincial Championships.
The Royals will compete on their home course on Saturday and will look to use it to their advantage in their push for the podium. With one week of training left, Redeemer will look to peak for their biggest race of the year.
Official results from the Brock Invitational were not available.
