NIPISSING 3, HUMBER 0

OAKVILLE, Ont. - It was just a year ago - minus a couple of days - that the Nipissing Lakers were hosting the OCAA men's volleyball championship, only to drop a heart-breaking 3-0 decision to the Humber Hawks in the final.

In a different venue and with a spot in the title game on the line this time around, roles were reversed as the Lakers put pressure on the Hawks right away and never let up in a 3-0 (25-21, 25-18, 26-24) triumph.

"We play in a tough league, we play Humber quite a bit, [so] we see them a lot and I think it's [the fact] that we play matches like that in our division a lot, that makes our team so much better," Nipissing head coach Eric Yung said. "We're very happy with this because Humber is a quality team - the defending national champions. Our guys right now, we're still improving point-by-point. I'm really excited for the guys, they played for each other."

Offensively the Lakers held the advantage in all statistical categories, bettering the Hawks in kills (42-38), aces (3-1), blocks (7-4) and total offence (52-43). Humber, meanwhile, held a 31-19 edge in digs.

Tom Podstawka scored a match-high 17 points (15 kills, two blocks) for the Lakers, while Frankie Edgecombe (11 kills, one block) was also in double-figures for the victors.

On the Humber side of the ledger, three Hawks posted double-digit point totals, led by Trevor Wong (12 kills, one ace) and followed by Cam Fletcher (12 kills) and Matthew Isaacs (eight kills, two blocks).

Nipissing will await the victor of the other semi final (Mohawk/Algonquin) and Yung says the team will take some time to soak in this victory tonight, before really getting down to business tomorrow.

"I want these guys to enjoy these moments because you don't beat Humber on big stages too often," he said. "Sheridan has done a great job hosting this tournament, so we'll rest up and probably watch the other semi final to see what our opponent is like and go from there. Tomorrow we'll talk about a little bit of a game plan. The bottom line is these guys just wanted to come out and play volleyball tonight, they didn't take anything for granted and they played like that."

Notes: Through their three-match post-season win streak to get into the championship game, Nipissing has yet to drop a set, out-scoring their opponents by a total of 227-178. The loss snaps Humber's eight-game post-season win streak dating back to last year's OCAA and CCAA tournaments were they emerged victorious. It also ends their run of three-straight OCAA titles. They will play Redeemer in the first bronze medal semi final tomorrow morning.

Source: Sheridan I.T.