The Falcons men’s volleyball team travelled to Cambrian College where the team took part in the OCAA championship, marking their third year with a podium finish and bringing home a bronze medal. 

“We would have loved to have been in the gold medal game. But I suppose third out of the 20 teams in our league isn’t too bad. But we’d love to get back to the late-2010s when we were bringing home banners,” shared head coach, Patrick Johnston.

The Falcons began the tournament with a challenging semi-final match against the third-ranked Humber Hawks who were aiming for their fifth OCAA title in a row. Despite strong efforts from the Falcons, they were defeated 3-0 by the eventual champions.

The Falcons had a tough climb to the OCAAs this season after experiencing several bumps in the road.

“We had some hiccups with tremendous injuries. We had a broken foot, two broken thumbs, broken ribs, and a broken arm that took multiple surgeries. It wasn’t until February that we had the same lineup for two consecutive matches,” said Johnston.

Although they didn’t make it to the final, the Falcons were determined to secure a podium finish and faced the St. Clair Saints who had already upset multiple teams to reach the final four. The match was a nail-biter, with both teams splitting the first two sets. However, the birds dominated the third set and went on to win the match 3-1, claiming the OCAA bronze medal.

“The guys had their sights pretty set on gold,” Johnston said. “Humber played incredibly well in the semi and there really wasn’t a ton of disappointment. It was kind of the mindset that if a team can play that well, they deserve to win and so that was a weird feeling postgame because usually you feel like you could have done this or could have done this. It just kind of was what it was.”

Blake Harnadek, Jayden Crowther, and Tanner Paterson all had standout performances. Harnadek was named Player of the Game against Humber, while Crowther earned Player of the Game honours in the bronze medal match against St. Clair. Paterson’s strong play earned him OCAA All-Star recognition.

“We have a really strong core coming back and lots of good recruits coming in. Humber, who beat us, are graduating their whole starting line. Everyone’s gone. So, this was the peak of their cycle. So that’s great news for us,” said Johnston.

With a clean slate ahead of them the birds, look forward to the boys bringing their best next season.