Varsity Update - November 7, 2011
Men’s Rugby
The regular season champion Seneca Sting blitzed the Mohawk Mountaineers 69-19 in OCAA Division 1 men's semi final rugby in North York Saturday (Nov. 5).
Adam Hogg, Bill Minnery and Jacob Kit scored the tries for the Mountaineers. "They were much bigger (than us)," said Mohawk head coach Alex Paris. "But the boys worked hard. Now we work this week for the bronze medal." The Mountaineers will face the Trent Excalibur in Peterborough Saturday November 12.
The Sting will meet Humber in the gold medal match the same day. The reigning champion Hawks topped Trent 17-9 in their semi.
Men’s Volleyball
Justin Scapinello led the Mohawk men’s volleyball team to a regular season opening 25-15, 25-21, 25-14 victory over the St. Clair Saints, November 5 at the Fennell Gym. Scapinello scored seven kills, three stuff blocks and two service aces. Mo Sulaiman collected eight kills and Ian Cameron had four kills, two blocks and one ace.
“We had a good opening match,” said head coach Matt Schnarr. “Our offense was solid, but we are struggling with consistency on the service line and the pass rotation. We had a great team effort as 10 guys saw the court. We need to stay more consistent when we get to playing the elite teams.”
The Mountaineers go to London Friday (Nov. 11) to meet Fanshawe.
Women’s Volleyball
They’ll feel they should have taken two sets, but instead, the Mohawk women’s volleyball squad bowed 16-25, 24-26, 26-28 to the visiting St. Clair Saints in the season curtain-raiser November 5. Jenna Gignac had seven kills, one block and one ace to lead the Mountaineers. Kristen VanHartingsveldt had six kills and two aces and Chi Chi Chuks-Mady had six kills, one block and one ace.
“The team had a really bad case of the opening game jitters throughout the match,” said head coach Andy Nicholson. “We had game-planned for certain hitters and serve receive rotations and unfortunately, the girls got into a 'fear zone' and stopped communicating and absolutely forgot the game plan. We even forgot to cover the exact serve receive formation we practiced for on the match winning point. We'll be better against Fanshawe.” Mohawk visits the Falcons Friday (Nov. 11).
Women’s Basketball
The Mohawk women’s basketball team is off to a fine start in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association regular season. The Mountaineers downed the Humber Hawks 49-39 November 1 in Etobicoke. Rachelle Abella scored 11 points for Mohawk and Daniella Randazzo added nine.
The Mountaineers got off to a fast start with an 18-6 lead after the first quarter, then were up by only two, 26-24 at the half. "I was really impressed by how strong we were mentally," said head coach Kevin Duffy. "When they came back we didn't fold. We regrouped, executed our plays and got back into a better flow on offence. It was also an advantage to go deep into our bench as we were much fresher at the end of the game, where Humber seemed to be tiring. Randazzo was a huge spark for us off the bench. Unfortunately she had to leave with an injury and we are hoping its not too serious," said Duffy. "Overall, its a great start to the season to get a win against a team who we have had difficulty with and who we will be battling with for a playoff spot.
The Mountaineers upped their record to 2-0 with a 73-69 decision over St. November 5.
Abella led the way with 26 points, eight rebounds, five assists and five steals. Kayla Michaelson had a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Sylvia Mosca aded 13 points, including three 3-pointers.
"Kayla and Rachelle were voted captains by their teammates this week and they showed why, scoring aside," said coach Duffy. "They demonstrated great leadership and courage for us. Again, the depth of our team was a huge factor as our bench outscored theirs by a 35 to 14 margin." The coach said the league is going to be very tough. "The teams are evenly matched and there are simply no easy games. It's going to be an interesting year for sure and the more wins you can accumulate earlier in the season, the better," concluded Duffy.
The Mountaineers will try to keep their good start going when they play Niagara Wednesday, November 9 and Sheridan, Friday, November 11. Both games will be at the Fennell Gymnasium.
Men’s Basketball
The Mohawk men’s cagers divided a pair of decisions to start the OCAA regular season. They dropped a 96-68 decision to the Humber Hawks November 1.
"It was a disappointing result," said Mohawk head coach Brian Jonker. "We didn't compete in the first half and they made a lot of shots. A 33-8 second quarter (for Humber) did us in."
Alex Reis led the Mountaineers with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Manny Campbell had 16 points, while Tanner Lane and Aminu Bello scored nine each.
Then it was the home opener and Mohawk whipped St. Clair 98-66 November 4 at the Fennell Gym to even their mark at 1-1, while the Saints fell to 0-2.
Bello scored 33 points to pace the attack. Taylor Dowhaniuk had 15 points and 13 rebounds and Alex Reis added 12 points.
"We got off to a slow start in the first half, but our transition game and some pressure in the third quarter resulted in us pulling away," said coach Jonker. "The kids played hard and gave a full effort. We are looking forward to a couple of tough home games (this coming) week against Niagara (Wednesday. Nov. 9) and Sheridan (Friday, Nov. 11).
Cross Country
Mohawk will have seven runners ino Kamloops B.C. this weekend (Nov. 11-12) for the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Cross Country Running National Championships. Thompson Rivers University is the host.
Coach Wayne Collins said Mountaineers set to go to the big race include Jon Redfearn, Hassan Ishaq, Michael Marshall, John Miles, Lovejeet Singh, Jeremy Connell and Brittany Russell.
