With the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association volleyball regular season drawing to a close in a just a few weeks time, it has become clear that the Fanshawe Falcons have positioned themselves well for the playoff drive in both the men's and women's OCAA western conference.

Coming into the second half of the season, the women had posted an impressive 8-3 record and have continued right where they left off before the winter break. After consecutive straight set victories over Conestoga and St. Clair to kickstart the 2011 portion of their season, the women suffered a slight setback with a disappointing 3-1 loss to the undefeated and western conference-leading Humber Hawks last Friday night.

The women returned to their winning ways on Wednesday evening with a hard-fought straight sets 3-0 win over the visiting Redeemer Royals. After a strong 25-14 opening set, the women were pushed to the brink in the second set, before holding on for a 26- 24 set win. Although the visiting Royals did not go down without a fight in the third and final set, the Falcons prevailed 25-21 to take the match and improve to 12-4 on the season. Stacie Thomas had another solid match with 10 points, while Katie Reist chipped in with 12 digs. The Falcons return to home court action next Wednesday evening in the J-Gym for a 6 p.m. match-up with Niagara College.

On the men's side of the action, the regular season just keeps rolling right along. After coming into 2011 riding a near perfect record of 8-1, the Falcons dropped a disappointing 3-1 match to their archrivals, the Humber Hawks, last Friday evening in Toronto. After an impressive 25-20 opening set victory, the guys battled hard before dropping the second set 27- 25. The third set was not the best for the Falcons as they dropped a 25-16 set score before finally falling 25-20 in the fourth and decisive set.

The guys were quick to rebound after the setback loss as they welcomed the Redeemer Royals to JGym for a revenge match on Wednesday evening. After dropping their first loss of the season in a five set match on the road to Redeemer back on November 4, the Falcons were not going to let another match slip away to the Royals, and especially not on the Falcons' home court.

After a strong 25-21 opening set, the Falcons were tested in the second set before prevailing 29-27, setting the stage for a dominating 25-17 third set victory to take the match in straight sets. Jordan Westman was a standout for the Falcons as he contributed an impressive 15 points along with 12 kills. Sam Youlton and Scott Brannigan also chipped in with 10 points each.

With the win, the Falcons avenge their only loss of the season to a team besides the Humber Hawks, who will most likely be on the Falcons' radar as both teams prepare for the provincial championships on February 26.

Following the men's match on Wednesday evening, Fanshawe Falcons freshman Mitch Berman said while a 3-0 win over Redeemer is still a pretty good win, the team still needs to focus on a specific aspect of the game. "Our physical ability and talent is there, but we need to mentally stay in the game for 25 points a set, not 15." And while Berman said he believes mental strength will be key the rest of the season, it is not the only area for improvement, adding, "We also need to limit our errors. If we limit our errors and play crisp volleyball there is not one team, not Humber or Durham, who will beat us come February 26 in the provincial championships." Berman also said watching game film is helpful in improvement. "We went through a bunch of game tape before the match tonight to show us how were playing, and we'll continue to do that to improve."

The guys return to action at home next Wednesday evening, following the women's game, at 8 p.m. in the J-Gym to square off with the sluggish 3-8 Niagara Knights.