OUA

By: Everett Delorme

There’s little argument made against McMaster being the favourite to win the OUA this year, and so far, they’ve given us even less reason to doubt that. The No. 2 team in the country has lost only two sets this season, both coming in a 3-2 win over Western, and efficiently taken down

Queens and RMC both made visits to Burridge Gym this weekend, and the results were predictable. Now we know that RMC is essentially a guaranteed ‘W’, but Queens and McMaster have been known to go at it. 

Unfortunately, this was not going to be one of them. The Marauders did what they’ve done to everyone else this year, and disposed of the Gaels in three sets, including a 25-12 second set in which Queens only managed 11 swings.

McMaster dominated in the middle, getting 20.5 total points from all three options. Tyson Alexander was the "least" efficient, hitting a .545, getting 6 kills and a block in the process. Danny Demyanenko hit a .833 and added 5 kills and an ace, while Alex Elliot was a perfect 5-for-5, and furthered the team with a block and an ace.

The Ryerson Rams were the Jekyll and Hyde team of the CIS this weekend. They opened it with a 3-2 loss to Windsor, a team who until this weekend was sitting in the cellar of the OUA. The bus ride to Windsor must have been a rough one, because Ryerson hit a -.079 in the 1st, and followed it up with an even .000 in the second. They woke up to push back in the 3rd and 4th, but Windsor managed to close it out for their second win of the season.

The Rams then followed that up with a gigantic win against Western, with another one that went the limit. This time around, Ryerson was the one hot out of the gate, taking the first two, then giving up the next two, only to take it 16-14 in the 5th.

In women’s action, the Toronto Varsity Blues were looking for a little revenge against the Rams on Sunday afternoon, after Ryerson took the first leg of the downtown rivalry 3-1 in the season opener.

The Varsity Blues, playing at home this time around, returned the favour. They dominated the first two sets, with Ryerson struggling to get anything going offensively. The Rams made it interesting by battling back for a 3rd set win, but Toronto wasn’t giving this one up, closing it out 25-20 to take the win and pull ahead of Ryerson in the OUA East standings.

Second-year Caleigh Cruickshank was impressive for the Varsity Blues, leading her team with 17 points, 12 kills and 5 aces, while rookie libero Kate Lonergan added to her digs total with 19.

The Varsity Blues do a great job re-capping their matches. Watch the highlights from this one.

Canada West

By: Pierre Rocque

The Canada West mens volleyball conference has been less than predictable this year.  Let us start with Friday where the Thompson Rivers WolfPack walked into the Go Center in Edmonton and swept the unsuspecting Golden Bears and followed it up on Saturday night winning the first two sets at which point the  former #1 and now #3 ranked University of Alberta Golden Bears woke up taking the final three sets to salvage a weekend split with a team they started the day tied with.  While on the topic of upsets the #1 ranked Trinity Western Spartans went into the Jack Simpson gym and thumped the Dinos 3-0 on Friday night, but followed it up with a 5 set loss to the unranked University of Calgary squad who have won a majority of their matches in five set marathons.

Around the rest of the league, the UBC Thunderbirds split a weekend with the Winnipeg Wesmen allowing them to stay tied for third at 5-3 with the Bears and the Dinos.  Mount Royal swept the weekend at home against Regina giving them sole possession of second place at 6-2.  The Manitoba Bisons took two 5 setters off the #4 Brandon Bobcats causing a four team pile up at 4-4 tied for fifth place.  Saskatchewan keeps close to the pack at 3-5 with a weekend sweep of the UBCO Heat in Saskatoon.

In womens action UBC kept rolling along taking two off the Winnipeg Wesmen. With UBC still undefeated they faced one of their toughest tests yet this season having to pull out a five set victory on Saturday night.  On the back of a 22 kill performance by Lisa Barclay UBC stays perfect.  

Brandon lost their second match of the season by splitting with the Manitoba Bison in a battle of Manitoba.  The Regina swept Mount Royal in a battle of the Cougars on Friday night and the host Calgarians returned the favor with a four set victory on Saturday night against their provincial neighbor.  The other three matches had very little drama or surprises as Trinity Western took two off the Dinos only losing one set along the way, UBCO Heat went into Saskatoon to take two matches from the Huskies and the Pandas took three set victories against the winless TRU WolfPack in Edmonton.