North Bay, ON – With a full capacity crowd on hand, Saturday's gold medal game between the University of British Columbia Heat and MacEwan College Griffins was a best in the west showdown at the CCAA Women's Volleyball Championship held on March 12-14, 2009.

The Heat defeated the Griffins in a thrilling five set match for the championship banner and gold medal. The Heat went into the contest with a frightening offensive weapon in CCAA All Canadian, Sheila McNee. No team had an answer for McNee throughout the tournament, but MacEwan was up for the task using a balanced attack and sensational defense to make it to the finals.

MacEwan won a thrilling first set by a score of 26-24. McNee got a game high 23 kills but the Griffins defense neutralized her for the most part. Leanna Gildersleeve led her team’s attack with 17 kills. Highly energized Heat Libero, Erin Kolmatycki was a key cog for her team as she covered the entire court with 17 digs and seemed to be involved in every play. Griffin’s Libero, Erica Latta led her team with 22 digs to match Kolmatycki’s near flawless defensive efforts.

The Griffin’s went up two to one after three sets and looked to have all the momentum, leading 8-7 in the fourth. The Heat responded by going on an 11-3 run and ended up winning the fourth set by a 25-16 score.

The fifth and final set was a nail-biter as the lead changed five times before the Heat broke the deadlock and won the set 15-11 and the championship banner along with the gold medal. Player of the game honours went to the Heat’s Kailey Buller and the Griffins’ Gildersleeve.

The final tournament rankings were as follows

Gold – University of British Columbia Okanagan Heat (Kelowna, BC)
Silver – MacEwan College Griffins (Edmonton, AB)
Bronze – Collège François-Xavier-Garneau - Les Élans (Quebec City, Que)
4th Place – Red Deer College Queens (Red Deer, AB)
5th Place – Humber College Hawks (Etobicoke, ON)
6thPlace – Vancouver Island University Mariners (Nanaimo, BC)
7th Place – Nipissing University Lakers (North Bay, ON)
8th Place – Mount Allison Mounties (Sackville, NB)

The CCAA All-Tournament Team Awards were announced and presented during the Closing Ceremony.

2nd All-Star Team

Britt Grydeland - Vancouver Island University
Landis Doyle - Humber College
Caitlin Nyhus - University of British Columbia Okanagan
Eve Trépanier - Collège François-Xavier-Garneau
Jessica Clutton - Red Deer College
Erin Kolmatycki- University of British Columbia Okanagan

1st All-Star Team

Catherine Laurin - Collège François-Xavier-Garneau
Katie Graves - Red Deer College
Erica Latta - MacEwan College
Alex Basso - University of British Columbia Okanagan
Kaylene Ehret - MacEwan College
Kirsten Wishloff - MacEwan College

Tournament Most Valuable Player

Sheila McNee, University of British Columbia Okanagan

Fair Play Award

Mount Allison University Mounties (ACAA)

For more information and complete results, please visit the 2009 CCAA Women’s Volleyball National Championship website at http://www.nipissingathletics.ca/wvbnationals/

The tournament organizers and Nipissing University would like to thank the tournament sponsors for their generosity. Sponsors include: Canadian Colleges Athletic Association, Ontario Colleges Athletic Association, Canadian Heritage Sport Canada, Baden Sports, National Car Rental, Mizuno, Best Western, Tisdale Bus Lines, Westmount Hospitality Group, SDR Seating, Clark Marketing Communications, and Moose FM.

Reported by: Jon Cada (Nipissing University)

The Canadian Colleges Athletic Association is a national sport organization that enriches the lives of student-athletes through intercollegiate competition.

Colette Struthers
CCAA Communications and Events Coordinator