Women's Volleyball finishes fourth at nationals
By: Fernando Bossoes
Humber Athletics Communications
RED DEER, AB – Humber women's volleyball finished their season capturing the fourth position at the CCAA Women's Volleyball Championship after falling against the Nordiques de Lionel-Groulx in four sets (21-25, 25-23, 20-25, 17-25). Keyome Ellis filled the stats sheet with a team-high 13 points, seven digs and two solo blocks, while Reese Cholette secured a game-high 24 digs.
Match Recap
On the final day of the CCAA Women's Volleyball Championship, all eyes were on the court as the OCAA champions, Humber Hawks, and the RSEQ champions, Nordiques de Lionel-Groulx, squared off. It all came down to this much-anticipated match, where both teams would battle for the CCAA bronze medal.
After securing a convincing victory over the host Red Deer Queens, the Nordiques were driven by the ambition to claim their first national medal. On the other side of the court, the Hawks aimed to write their name in the history books by capturing their third national medal and notching the program's first-ever consecutive CCAA medal.
The first set started tight, with both teams trading points in this must-win match. The Nordiques started to push harder offensively, managing to jump ahead to a 14-10 lead. Head coach Chris Wilkins called a timeout to cool off the match. Humber trimmed the lead down to two, with the score reading 23-21, but the Quebec team scored twice to capture the set win 25-21.
The Nordiques picked up where they left after the first set win, feeling the great momentum with an early 10-3 run in the second. Despite the red-hot start from the RSEQ champions, the Hawks kept their head up, evening up the match at 19-19 and jumping ahead 21-19 with a block from Te-Anna Stephenson and a kill from Leah Serlin. On the verge of tying this game, Keyome Ellis smashed an unstoppable spike to close out the set 25-23.
As the third set began, the Nordiques once again started pacing the speed of the set. The Hawks would find a way to cut the lead down and keep a neck-to-neck game. However, the Quebec team found a good sequence, scoring four points in a row to sit on the driver's seat and send Humber on a timeout, 17-13. The Nordiques would stay consistent, securing a 25-20 set win.
The Hawks came off to a strong start as they saw the Lionel-Groulx one step away from their first CCAA medal. Senior player Te-Anna Stephenson grabbed three kills of her own to set Humber up 6-3. The Nordiques would even up the match at 7-7 and never looked back. The Quebec team wrapped up the game with a 25-17 set win, capturing the program's first national medal.
Keyome Ellis was named the 4imprint Player of the Match for Humber, grabbing a team-high 13 points, seven digs and two solo blocks.
Following the gold medal game between the VIU Mariners and the Lakeland Rustlers, two Hawks players were named to the championship all-star team.
