Both Humber Hawks volleyball teams swept their games against the Fanshawe Falcons at home on Nov. 27.
The Hawks women’s team won its third sweep in a row against the Falcons, while the men bounced back into the win column.
The women moved to an 8-0 record, just days before losing its first game since 2023, but they kept their OCAA number 1 rank. Fanshawe women dropped to fourth in the Western Conference with a 6-3 record.
Humber women took the first point of the game following an error from the Falcons' Jillian Lancaster. Then Fanshawe pulled away 20-17, and the Hawks called the first timeout of the match.
After the timeout, Humber brought it to 21-19. Following a kill from Amy Connelly, the Hawks forced the Falcons to take one of their own up 21-20.
The Hawks came out flying, taking the lead back 22-21. The Falcons called a timeout, but it did not help. Humber took the first set 25-22.
The second set began with the Falcons blocking Connelly. The set stayed tight. The first timeout came late when the Falcons fell 21-20.
The Hawks allowed one more point in the set and took the match with a 25-21 win.
Humber held the lead for most of the final set and won 25-22 with the winning point coming off an error from the Falcons' Jaime Worsfold.
Hawks coach Chris Wilkins said he was content with the team's win.
“A win is a win, I thought we played okay. Fanshawe is a decent team, they're young and athletic, and they pushed us hard,” Wilkins said. “I thought that we were the better team after 20 points. I thought up to 20 points we weren't great, but after 20 I thought we sort of dug in.”
The men followed with a 3-0 win against Fanshawe, who is the top team in the Western Conference.
The Hawks bounced back after taking a tough 3-2 loss against Mohawk on Nov. 22. Humber improved to 4-3 on the season and moved up to fifth in the conference.
“We hurt ourselves in that match. Practices were energetic, guys worked hard, they understand it’s a long season, nothing is ever won in November, it's always won in February and March,” men’s coach Wayne Wilkins said.
“For the last five years, we’ve been the game that everyone circled on the calendar. Everyone came hunting for us, this year sitting at 3-3, we’re the team hunting now,” Wilkins said.
The Falcons took the first lead of the set with Hawks middle blocker Dante Sugarman sending the first serve of the game out of bounds.
Fanshawe seemed to pull away early, going up 8-4, leading to an early Humber timeout. After five straight points for the Hawks, the Falcons called their own timeout, but after the break, Humber never looked back.
The Hawks took the first set with great defence and a firing offence. With an error by Fanshawe left sider Carter Pittuck, the Hawks won set one 25-17.
The second set began with Humber playing catch-up early, which led to a timeout down 6-1. The Hawks fired back and crept back into the game, tying it at 17. Outside hitter Enzo Endres clinched the set 25-19 with a service ace, leaving Humber with a comfortable two-set lead.
The final set remained close with constant back-and-forth action, but the Hawks got the best of Fanshawe with Dante Sugarman getting the final kill of the game, resulting in a 25-22 clean sweep.
After the match, player of the game Teyven Blackmore talked about the significance of the win.
“It’s for sure huge for us, especially getting the momentum going, we were down on energy the past few games,” Blackmore said.
“It for sure got our spirits up, so a lot of the guys are going to be super excited to get back to practice, and honestly, we’re looking forward to going out on a bang,” he said.
