WATERLOO REGION (November 9, 2017) – On Wednesday night in front of a boisterous Woodland home crowd, the St. David’s Celtics battled through jeers and chants to take a five set match, and the D8 senior volleyball title.

It’s been 25 years since the Celtics’ senior volleyball program has won the title, and it was unexpected to happen this year, considering the school didn’t have a senior volleyball squad last year. Combined with being in the same division as regional powerhouses Woodland and Rockway, this was win was not an anticipated outcome.

The first set saw the two schools trade point for point with Woodland sneaking out the first set 25-22.

St. David’s battled back in the second set where grade 12 left side attacker Nolan Spencer came to life with three massive hits, levelling the match at one set a piece with a 25-19 win.

Carrying the momentum into the third set, Celtics setter and co-captain Quinton Dowling utilized smart net play to keep the Cavaliers’ defence on its toes. St. David’s would seal the third set win with four straight points to win 25-22.

Woodland’s Judah Verbeek came to life in the fourth set which ignited the home crowd. After trading points back and forth, Verbeek went on a serving spree that the Celtics could not handle. Woodland would eventually take the fourth set 25-23 pushing the match to a fifth and deciding set.

The first half of the fifth set was dominated by St. David’s as hits from Spencer where too much to handle as they gained a 12-4 advantage. The Cavaliers would stir in some drama clawing back into the set at 14-12, but the final play would see an attack from Spencer which was blocked, dug back out by St. David’s and repeated another soaring attack which sealed the win.

St. David’s will advance to the ‘AA’ CWOSSA Championships held in Simcoe Ontario November 15-16. Woodland will host the ‘A’ CWOSSA Championships November 16th, where Rockway who finished first in the D8 regular season, will also be entered and look to advance to the OFSAA Championships. St. Benedict’s who finished first in the D8 south division will play in the ‘AAA’ CWOSSA Championships on the same date in Kitchener-Waterloo.

The junior boys volleyball title was also decided Thursday night with St. Mary’s etching their second straight Championship. They took a 3-1 sets victory over St. David’s 25-23, 23-25, 25-17, 25-12.

The Eagles’ were led by middle attacker Jacob Lohrenz and setter Sebastian Mawhiney who has a dangerous serve to look out for as they advance to ‘AAA’ CWOSSA.

St. David’s will join their senior team in Simcoe, while Rockway’s junior squad will advance to the ‘A’ CWOSSA tournament.