CIS Women's Volleyball: Season Update
Graphic: WikipediaThe 2011-2012 CIS Women's Volleyball season is well underway and heading into the December break. We are going to take this time to review each conference on their way to this year's championship hosted by McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. We'll start off with the OUA.
OUA
With the departure of Laurier from CIS men's and women's volleyball, the OUA has now folded both divisions into one massive 13 team conference. At the top of the OUA is the York University Lions. Undefeated in nine games, the Lions have only dropped three sets this season. Even getting locked in an elevator for just under and hour right before they walked on the court didn't phase them as they defeated the OUA second place team, Ottawa by a score of 3-1. Ottawa sits in a little pack of three teams fighting out for the second spot of the OUA with a record of 7-3. The other two teams fighting it out with Ottawa are Queen's (6-2) and Toronto (6-3). U of T is showing quite the improvement from last year when they finished the regular season with a record of 5-14.
Canada West, AUS and RSEQ after the jump.
Canada West
Over to the west coast now, where the four time CIS defending champions UBC is once again leading the Canada West conference with an undefeated record of 8-0. Tied for points with UBC is Winnipeg whose 8-2 record also gives them 16, four more than what they finished with last season. Behind Winnipeg is a cluster of very talented squads: Manitoba, Alberta and Trinity Western. Only two wins separate the first and fifth teams in the west, and while some have played 10 and others only 8, it is still anyone's conference.
RSEQ
The smallest conference in the CIS is the RSEQ where it appears to be business as usual for Laval and Montreal. These two teams (just as they did last year) are separating themselves from the rest of the conference (McGill and Sherbrooke) racing to the end of the season with hopes for a spot in Hamilton this year for the CIS Women's Volleyball Championship. This technically can still be anyone's tournament as the last place Sherbrooke (2-7) has already defeated the first place Montreal (7-2) and there are enough games left in the season to shuffle these entire standings around.
AUS
There are many great things about the Canadian Maritimes. Out east, the air smells better and McDonald's has something on their menu called the McLobster. Also, because of the time zones, I can wake up in Toronto and enjoy watching AUS live streams of volleyball games after a night out. Win. Saint Mary's is the third and final team to remain undefeated in the CIS boasting a 8-0 record. Second place Dalhousie was 7-0 but is on a two game losing streak after dropping a game to Saint Mary's and the #5 Acadia.
This weekend brings the last games before the holiday break. The CIS takes the month of December off for exams and the holidays. Luckily our neighbours to the south have their NCAA Women's Volleyball Tournament taking place throughout the month of December to fill our women's volleyball quota.