Humber’s women’s volleyball team defeated the Boréal Vipères in a 3-0 sweep on Saturday.
The victory keeps the Hawks in second place in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) West standings with a 13-2 record.
Before the game began, both teams had something to fight for: the Vipères had been on a 42-game losing streak, with their last win coming on Nov. 18, 2023, against the Sheridan Bruins, while Humber sought to keep a two-game streak going.
Boréal was also looking to get its first win of the season against Humber, a team it had not beaten in program history.
Vipères head coach Bryan Welsh said a victory against the Hawks would be a difficult challenge, but he hopes his players will learn something from this match.
“What I'm hoping for in this game is taking away a lot of learning lessons on how to play at a faster pace of (the) game,” he said. “If we can take those lessons away, we can kind of take them to Sheridan tomorrow and hopefully look to our first win.”
Hawks head coach Chris Wilkins said Boréal has shown that it can still fight despite being winless this season and praised their dedication.
“Boréal is a program that's trying to get better. I respect their coaches (for) doing a good job,” he said. “They struggle with continuity and keeping players, but they work hard.
“They go out and do things, so I expect that they're going to try to do that against us,” Wilkins said.
He added that this match would be a good way to try new tactics ahead of a back-to-back schedule.
“It's going to be a good opportunity to try some things, to use some people to get better and get everybody ready,” he said. “We've got some big weeks coming up, so we'll take advantage of that.”
In the first set, both teams went back and forth, keeping the score close.
The Hawks took the lead, scoring four unanswered points before the timeout was called by Boréal.
Humber continued to dominate the whole set after the pause and eventually won, with first-year middle blocker Alaina Debock-Hubbard stealing the spotlight, scoring four service aces in a row.
The second set saw the Hawks take the lead, but the Vipères showed no signs of surrender, keeping the game tight.
Humber extended the lead to a three-point gap throughout the match and eventually to five, which was later sealed with a 25-20 victory after Boréal tipped the ball out of bounds.
The third set was much of the same as the first, with the Hawks leading and the Vipères trying to close the gap.
Humber was on fire, increasing the gap to double digits with fourth-year libero Reese Cholette at the helm.
Cholette played a different position than her initial role and was on the service line that gave her three service aces, a career-high.
The Hawks won the set 25-13, sweeping the Vipères 3-0.
Third-year libero Claire Ramos said the victory has given momentum for the team's chemistry ahead of the playoffs.
“We got a lot of momentum now going into the playoffs. It's really looking good on our side,” she said. “A lot of us have found our chemistry, found that bond that we've been searching for this whole time.”
Despite the loss, Welsh said he was satisfied with his team's commitment to not giving up.
“I'm happy with the turnout, [and] the fact that they didn't quit,” he said. “The second and third sets proved that.”
Wilkins said the sweep allowed the team to prepare for what's ahead.
“Today was a great opportunity for us to try some different things and play some different people,” he said. “It was nice to get some people in to play today and get everybody ready for (the) playoffs that are coming around the corner.”
