Men's volleyball team happy at the top

So far, so good for the Fanshawe Falcons men's volleyball team.

After defeating the Redeemer Royals 3-2 (25-15, 25-22, 23-25, 32-34, 15-10) the Falcons went on to win in impressive fashion at a tournament held at Humber College, and they continued their streak with a 3-1 victory over Niagara College on November 9th.

In the Humber Cup the Falcons soared through pool play with a 7-1 record and defeated the Durham Lords 3-1 (20-25, 25-18, 15-12) in the gold medal final.  Three Falcons players received top honours as Justin Guerin and Pawel Kucharski were named tournament all-stars and Bruno Urganii was the tournament MVP.

For their efforts Fanshawe was chosen as the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) male team of the week, and is the number one team in the OCAA.

Head coach Dave McMillan said he is happy with the teams start but admits there is always room for improvement.

“We're still working at it, we had a big week but if we would have lost tonight, we would have been right back where we started,” McMillan said. “We were flat. We came out thinking we were the worlds best, once the kids started putting it together we played pretty well the last couple of games.”

Leading the way for the Falcons was their team captain Urganii and libero Kucharski. The key to the Falcons offensive attack is Kucharski getting the ball to Urganii, who can set the ball up for the Falcons array of powerful hitters.

“Pawel brought the pass to the net the last couple of games and they just couldn't handle it, once we get that ball to Bruno we are going to get one-on-one match-ups, and any one of our hitters is going to win in that situation,” said McMillan.

One hitter that is standing out above the rest is Guerin.

“Justin Guerin is really starting to play,” McMillan said. “I think he was a little intimidated at the start of the year, but he is starting to give us quite a game and I think he will be at least one of the best if not our best player by the end of the year.”

Up next, the Falcons will take their number one OCAA ranking on the road to Canadore and Nippising November 18 and 19.