MOHAWK 3, REDEEMER 1

OAKVILLE, Ont. - Of all the teams in the field for the 2013 OCAA Men's Volleyball Championship, no two are closer in proximity than the two from the City of Hamilton - the Mohawk Mountaineers and Redeemer Royals.

While Redeemer's 14-4 record was better than Mohawk's of 9-9, two of the Royals losses came at the hands of their neighbours and ultimately an amped-up Mohawk team made a hat-trick, maintaining a high-energy level through a 3-1 (26-24, 22-25, 25-22, 25-15) win that pushes them into the semi final.

"It was the best match we've played all year," Mohawk head coach Matthew Schnarr said. "I told them to be emotional and play it emotionally because everytime we play Redeemer, it's close, it's never easy. It was a total team effort - we played 12 guys and to have that many guys come on the floor, do their job and be reliable, it's a great thing."

While Redeemer held the edge in all offensive categories - 43-40 in kills, 5-3 in aces, 10-9 in blocks and 58-52 in total offence - it was a tenacious defensive effort from Mohawk that played a significant role in the narrative, as they had 55 digs to Redeemer's 31.

Redeemer also struggled from the service line, making errors at inopportune occassions.

"Every time we built a little momentum, we served the ball out of bounds," Redeemer head coach Wayne Harris said. "If you serve the ball out of bounds and continually let your opponent off the hook, you're going to pay for it. We missed eight serves in the set we won, so our serving was an abomination. Against a very emotional, hard-working team like Mohawk, that's going to bite you in the behind every time."

Eric Danecke led the way for the Mountaineers with 12 points (eight kills, four blocks) while Mo Sulaiman (nine kills, two blocks) and Bradley Regier (nine kills, one ace) also hit double-figures.

For Redeemer, Aaron VanderLught scored a match-high 17 points (10 kills, three aces, four blocks), with Cameron Grooenendijk (eight kills, three blocks), David Klomps (seven kills, two aces, one block) and Eric Heidbuurt (10 kills) also notching double-digit scoring totals.

Mohawk will advance to play in the semi-final tomorrow and Schnarr says a key will be for his young group to enjoy the experience.

"We just need to keep playing for the love of the game," he said. "At the end of the day we just play hard and let the result take care of itself. If we win, that's great, but if we don't win, as long as you can walk away from the floor saying you did your best and you worked as hard as you can, that's all you can ask. Tomorrow's a new day, we're the underdog - we're the eighth ranked team in the province - and we've got a semi final, so with a lot of young guys it should be interesting."

Source: Sheridan I.T.