With a CCAA National Championship berth on the line and a spot in the OCAA Gold Medal match, the Royals came up short Friday evening. Redeemer hit a road block against the top ranked Falcons, dropping the match 3-0, relegating themselves to the Championship Bronze medal match.
 

RECAP

The opening set of the match started out with both teams showing off their offensive attack, trading kills back and forth. The match was tight through the first half of the set. However, Fanshawe began to pull away and back to back errors by the Royals gave the Falcons a 21-15 lead resulting in a Redeemer timeout. Those mistakes proved to be costly, as Fanshawe closed out the set taking the first set 25-18.

In the second, neither team was able to establish much of a lead with both teams going back and forth until the 16-point mark. Again it would be errors that cost the Royals, as three straight forced them to take their first timeout down 18-16. Redeemer would get things close, making it 23-22 but failed to pull things back as Fanshawe took the set 25-22. The set point for the Falcons was originally ruled in favour of the Royals, however In a showcase of sportsmanship, Redeemer indicated that the ball had been tipped, resulting in the point going for the Falcons.

The Falcons took control of the third set early jumping out to a 9-3 lead before Redeemer took a timeout. Fanshawe slowly built up their lead, pulling ahead by nine with the score 19-10. From their, Redeemer put together a run, but it was to late, losing 25-18. 

Second-year outside hitter Brayden Stoffers was named the player of the game for the Royals, finishing with 13 points coming off 11 kills, one ace, and a block.

Third-year middle Mitch McFadden was named the player of the game for the Falcons, finishing with eight points on seven kills and one ace.

It is the second straight year that the Falcons have knocked the Royals out of Championship contention, defeating Redeemer last year in the semifinals of the 2018 OCAA Championship. 
 

NEXT

 
With the loss, Redeemer is bumped to the OCAA Bronze medal match. The Royals will face the Niagara Knights, loser of the other Championship semfinal to the Humber Hawks (3-1,) tomorrow at 2pm. 

Redeemer split with the Knights during the regular season, losing on the road in the first semester, and winning at home in their final league match.

The Royals will be gunning for their 5th OCAA Men's Volleyball medal, their most recent coming last season. The Knights last found the podium in 2015.

Source Humber College
 

HIGHLIGHTS

 

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We lost tonight but we looked pretty good doing it. Bronze medal on the line tomorrow! 🎥 @colinwoudamedia

A post shared by Redeemer Royals (@redeemerroyals) on Feb 22, 2019 at 7:33pm PST

 

PHOTOS