The Mohawk Mountaineers have earned a semi-final berth in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) men’s volleyball championship at Sheridan College in Oakville.

The Mountaineers turned in an impressive performance as they downed their Hamilton Mountain rivals, the Redeemer Royals 26-24, 22-25, 25-22, 25-15 in their quarter-final, Thursday night (Feb. 21). Mohawk, which finished sixth in the West Region with a 9-9 record and slipped into the championship by defeating George Brown in a playoff, defeated the 14-4 Royals for the third time in three tries this season.

Eric Danecke collected eight kills and four stuff blocks. Mo Sulaiman had nine kills and two blocks. Brad Regier, who was selected the Mountaineer player of the match, also had nine kills and one service ace. and Phil Youngblut had five kills, one ace and two blocks.

For Redeemer, Aaron Vanderlught recorded 10 kills, three aces and four blocks. David Klomps had seven kills, two aces and one block and Eric Heidbuurt had 10 kills.

“It was the best match we’ve played all year,” Mohawk head coach Matthew Schnarr said. “I told them to be emotional and play it emotionally because every time we play Redeemer, it’s close, it’s never easy. It was a total team effort — we played 12 guys and to have that many guys come on the floor, do their job and be reliable, it’s a great thing.”

While Redeemer held the edge in all offensive categories — 43-40 in kills, 5-3 in aces, 10-9 in blocks and 58-52 in total offence — it was a tenacious defensive effort from Mohawk that played a significant role in the narrative, as they had 55 digs to Redeemer’s 31.

Redeemer also struggled from the service line, making errors at inopportune moments.

“Every time we built a little momentum, we served the ball out of bounds,” Redeemer head coach Wayne Harris said. “If you serve the ball out of bounds and continually let your opponent off the hook, you’re going to pay for it. We missed eight serves in the set we won, so our serving was an abomination. Against a very emotional, hard-working team like Mohawk, that’s going to bite you in the behind every time.”

The Mountaineers will hit the floor for their semi-final Friday night at 8:00, against the winner of the Algonquin-Sheridan quarter final.