REDEEMER 3, CONESTOGA 1

KITCHENER, Ont. - It was a sweep to start the season for the Redeemer Royals volleyball teams as both programs defeated the Conestoga Condors with identical 3-1 victories. Both teams started their respective matches slow, playing nervous in their first games of the season but when the Royals woke up, they cruised to season opening wins.

The Lady Royals came out flat in the first set, playing very slow and struggling with their passing. A somewhat shell-shocked Royals team was under fire all set and were unable to play with any consistency. The Condors took the first set convincingly 25-9.

The second game saw a new Redeemer team out on the floor. "We settled down, came out strong, and got up quickly," commented Redeemer head coach Doug Veldman. "We started to connect well with our middle hitters and began to put in the effort as a team."

The strong start in the second set gave the Royals the confidence they needed as they had little trouble getting back in the match with a 25-10 win. The Royals went on to cruise to the 3-1 victory with wins of 25-19 and 25-20 in the third and fourth games.

2012-13 OCAA all-star Curtiss Straatsma led Redeemer with 19 total points including 14 kills. Charlene De Vries had 12 points for the Royals.

Lauren Hagedorn had a team-high seven points for the Condors.

Next up for the Royals is their home opener against Humber College on Nov. 1. "We are looking forward to it," said Veldman regarding their next match. "As long as we can solidify our serving and our passing we should be in good shape."

The men's match started very similarly to the women's match. The Royals came out tentative and slow. Redeemer head coach Brad Douwes added, "I think we were a little nervous. I think we were scared to play and scared to lose."

Like the women's team, Redeemer dropped their first set of the evening. The Royals were down 17-12 in the second game before the team was able to turn things around. "It took us a while to get things going," mentioned Douwes, "but once we started playing aggressively, playing our style of ball, it allowed us to turn the match around in our favour."

The Royals did just that as they were able to come back from the late five-point deficit in the second set and reel off three straight wins to take the match 3-1.

A huge part of the dynamics on Wednesday night was the matchup against former Redeemer head coach Wayne Harris. Harris retired from Redeemer last spring and eventually went on to take the role as head coach at Conestoga.

For new head coach (former assistant coach) Douwes, it was a great night facing off against Harris. "Playing against Wayne was fun. I think it made the guys a little tentative and nervous but we were able to overcome that, get rid of the nerves, and just play volleyball."

Douwes expressed his appreciation to Wayne on Wednesday night on twitter saying, "Good win tonight against a good team. Conestoga has a great leader and this was obvious tonight."

Redeemer takes the court again on Nov. 1 in its home opener against Humber College.

Source: Redeemer University College