No. 1 Men's Volleyball Finishes First Half Undefeated

By: A. Wickstrom
Humber Athletics Sports Information

ANCASTER - Top-ranked Humber men's volleyball finished the 2019 year with a perfect 9-0 record after defeating No. 14 Redeemer Royals on Dec 6 in straight sets. The final set scores were 25-17, 25-22, and 30-28.

Quickly dropping the first two points of the match, the Hawks had to fight straight out of the gate while taking on the Royals. Establishing their height right away, middles Andrew Blakey and Maximum Crowder controlled what the Royals were able to put over the net throughout the first and second sets. The Royals were determined to stay in the game, leaving no room for easy points on Humber's end. Huge kills by Joshua Fadare maintained the Hawks score, as service runs by Eduardo Silva Ferreira and Jake Gomes took the Hawks on a momentum ride that tamed the crowd. Humber remained disciplined throughout the sets as they took victories at 25-17 and 25-22.

The Hawks seemed unable to find court in the final set against the Royals, as they quickly found themselves trailing behind the energized Royals. Rrezart Sadiku managed a five-point service run that helped push the Hawks back into their momentum, as Eduardo Silva Ferreira tied up the score at 12 after a huge outside kill, forcing the Royals into the first time out of the set. Joshua Fadare hit the service line with a three-point run that included an ace, pushing Redeemer into their final timeout at 19-15. The Royals began to fightback from the service line, tying up the Hawks at 21. Both teams continued to trade the lead back and forth in a nail-biting tie, before Humber finished the game at 30-28, with an ace by third year Jake Gomes.

Senior Andrew Blakey led the Hawks with eight kills, two blocks and an ace, while Joshua Fadare followed right behind with seven kills, and four aces. 

Humber Highlights

• The Hawks have shown their dominance over the OCAA, only dropping two of 26 sets throughout the 2019 season half.
• Jake Gomes advances to 72 total career aces, placing him only four away from entering the top five on Humber's all-time career aces list.
• Humber served their best game of the year, earning 11 total aces.
• After the sweep, Humber advances to a 26-13 all-time against the Royals.

What's Next?
The Humber Hawks are done for the 2019 season and will re-enter conference play on Jan 9 against the No.12 Conestoga Condors. Gametime