Humber’s women's volleyball team were handed its first loss of the season by St. Clair on Nov. 20, ending a 57-game winning streak that had lasted the better part of two years.
The last time the Hawks lost a game was on Feb. 9, 2023, against the Redeemer Royals because of a technicality. Humber beat Redeemer 3-0, but the match was forfeited days later after Humber’s Athletics reported that an ineligible student-athlete participated in the game, a violation of OCAA policy, resulting in three default losses that season.
Saints head coach Julie Ann Milling said her team's depth would be key to beating Humber’s unbeaten side.
“If it's not working on the floor, we can trust so many other people,” she said. “Being able to take care of the ball and putting it away is a strength that puts pressure on them.”
Hawks head coach Chris Wilkins said the key to winning is decreasing the number of errors they commit and adding pressure on the Saints.
“It's a matter of minimizing our errors, maybe forcing them to be out of [their] system and try to make them make errors,” he said. “We're expecting a tough match today, and we know that they're a well-coached team [and] they have a lot of talented players.”
The first set saw both teams keeping the score tight and even, with Humber trailing throughout the early stages. However, they still fought back to tie the game at 18-18 after a successful block, prompting St. Clair to call a timeout.
Despite the timeout call, the Hawks could not take the lead and ultimately lost the set after first-year player Faith Hughes tipped the ball out of bounds, giving the Saints the win by a score of 25-22.
The second set was the same story, but with Humber in the front seats, leading the match. However, they would suddenly fall behind after St. Clair scored three unanswered points, making the score 15-12, which prompted Wilkins to call a timeout.
The Hawks would slowly come back and regain the lead in the late stages of the set. They would win the set 25-23 after a quick dig reaction by fifth-year middle blocker Amy Connelly created a chance for first-year setter Jessie McDonaugh to set up Hughes with the final point.
The third set would see Humber continue its rhythm, with the lead being 8-4, where St. Clair would call a timeout.
The Saints would slowly tie the game and take advantage of the Hawks' errors, leading to a timeout call by Wilkins as they were trailing by three points.
Despite the call by the home side, Humber continued to fall behind and would lose the set 25-21.
The fourth set saw the Hawks fall behind once again as the Saints continued its momentum throughout the match, leading the score 14-10 before a timeout was called by the home side.
Humber would attempt to close the gap in the late stages of the set, and they managed to cut the deficit to one point.
Unfortunately, the Hawks could not take charge in a possible comeback as they would go on and lose the fourth set 25-23, marking the first loss for the reigning champions.
Milling said the win was all about her side sticking with the game plan throughout the match.
“We felt really comfortable with our block,” she said. “We kind of worked out the kinks of who we wanted to target serving, and it executed our game plan.”
After the game, Wilkins said the loss was down to effort and execution, which his team could not take control of.
“We allowed them to do what they wanted to do, and we never took control of the match,” he said.
Wilkins said the team needs to take the defeat as motivation heading into the second half of the season.
“I think that if we play the way we played tonight, we could be in trouble,” he said.
The Hawks, who remain the number 1 nationally ranked team, return to action in the New Year with a rematch against St. Clair in Windsor on Jan. 10, 2026. First serve is set to begin at 3 p.m.
