Gold Medal Match: Lakeland Rustlers 3, Camosun Chargers 0

The unflappable and unstoppable Lakeland Rustlers rolled to a 2023 CCAA gold medal with a 3-0 (25-22, 25-14, 25-19) championship win over the Camosun Chargers.

This was a rematch of the 2017 women’s volleyball national final, which was also won by the Rustlers, and marks their fourth CCAA medal in women’s volleyball over the past ten seasons (gold in 2023 and 2017, silver in 2013, and bronze in 2018).

For Camosun, their silver showing marked the third CCAA medal result in team history, adding onto their 2017 silver and 2015 bronze.

The VIU gym was noisy throughout the match. A large and loud cheering section for Camosun—including their mascot, Rampage, and members of other Chargers varsity teams—made the 100 km drive from Victoria to VIU for the contest. The Rustlers had a smaller but engaged fan base on hand, dressed in matching green and yellow outfits and drumming away on custom plastic garbage cans at every point.

The game started off with some intense rallies, with one notable point resulting from two desperation bumps from Camosun’s Rilyn Boorman and Erica Bolink, far past their end line, magically guiding the ball to land just inside the Lakeland end line.

Spurred on, the Chargers had a run in the middle of set, forcing Lakeland to call a timeout with Camosun up 13-8. The Rustlers adjustments paid off, and the game was tied at 14-14 moments later. Late in the set, a Jana Laing ace pushed the Rustlers towards set point and a long serve from Camosun secured it for the Lloydminster squad.

In the second set, the teams again played it close until Lakeland’s structured offense and solid block defense started to take over before the midway point of the set. With the Rustlers up 11-9, a long serving run from Lana Matthews and some clinical blocking from Laing and Kaylie Lueck pushed the lead to 16-9. A Matthews shot off the block finished off the set and gave Lakeland a 2-0 lead.

Camosun came out firing in the third, getting the opening point on a big kill from Hannah May and taking a 7-4 lead on a massive block from Bolink. The energized blue-and-white Chargers fanbase pushed Camosun forward, and the PACWEST champions led by as much as four points at 14-10.

Lakeland, poised as always despite the noise, chipped away. The Rustlers eventually pulled even at 17-17 and, on another long service run from Matthews, did not drop another point until they were up 24-17. A spectacular kill and an ace from Bolink kept the Chargers in the game, but Jenay Varga—who unofficially had 7 kills in the third set alone—earned points 23, 24, and the gold medal-clinching point 25 with three huge left side kills.

The 4Imprint players of the game were Jana Laing for the Rustlers and Erica Bolink for the Chargers.

After the game, Varga was named tournament MVP. OneTeam Sports Group tournament all-star awards were also given to teammates Kaylie Lueck (Second Team All-Star) and Jana Laing (First Team All-Star).

For Camosun, Erica Bolink and Correina McNeice were also named First Team All-Stars while Hannah May was named a Second Team All-Star.

Bronze Medal Match: Humber Hawks 3, VIU Mariners 1

The Humber Hawks are 2023 CCAA women’s volleyball bronze medallists following a 3-1 (25-20, 25-18, 19-25, 26-24) victory in a tournament rematch with the host VIU Mariners.
The 2023 bronze is Humber’s second CCAA medal in women’s volleyball following a bronze finish in 2016. The Hawks victory also interrupted a VIU run of six consecutive seasons earning a CCAA medal (five gold and one bronze).

The Hawks picked up where they left off after their win of Édouard-Montpetit a day earlier, looking very strong as they built a 11-5 lead in the first set before a VIU timeout. The teams went largely point for point the rest of the way, with Humber’s Erika Dodd smashing an over-bump to close out the set.

The second set was tight from the get-go until VIU put middle Lainey Granley into the game. The second-year middle earned a kill and an ace right after getting onto the floor, leading to an 10-8 VIU lead. However, Humber responded with a 7-point run and soon pushed the advantage up to 21-11. The Mariners earned three points in row while the Hawks sat on 24 points, but a hard free ball from Ara Telan to the back corner of VIU’s side deflected off two Mariners and out to put Humber up 2-0.

The Mariners served notice early that they were not ready to give up the match with two huge Cassidy Kitchen kills and a Linnea Brickwood ace opening the scoring for the home squad. VIU remained two-to-three points up until a Keyome Ellis block and a Telan kill off the tape brought the Hawks level at 15-15. To the delight of the home fans, VIU outscored Humber 10-4 the rest of the way, with Jane Lytvynenko launching a kill from the back row followed by a surprising one-touch of a free ball between Hawks defenders to complete the set.

The fourth set was the closest of the match with the teams trading blows the entire way. A Kitchen roll-shot to the Hawks backline put the Mariners up 24-23, but a block from Telan and Cassidy Andrews tied the game. Hawks setter Stephanie Armstrong launched an untouched ace to put the Hawks back up 25-24, and Erika Dodd fired a shot off a block and out of bounds to clinch the bronze medal for her team.

Dodd, an All-Canadian, had her most prominent game of the tournament and was named Humber’s 4Imprint Player of the Game. Cassidy Kitchen, who brought the home fans to their feet multiple times with (unofficially) more than 20 kills, was named Player of the Game for VIU.

Following Lakeland and Camosun’s gold medal match, Humber’s Alex Lachapelle and Stephanie Armstrong and VIU’s Jane Lytvynenko were named First Team Tournament All-Stars. Cassidy Kitchen was named to the Second Team. 

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