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18 - The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday February 28, 2009 www.oakvillebeaver.com Drury rides momentum in third set Continued from page 16 NIKKI WESLEY / OAKVILLE BEAVER BUMP IN THE ROAD: St. Thomas Aquinas player Michayla Caughlin bumps the ball to a teammate during Thursday's Halton high school senior girls' volleyball A/AA final at Sheridan College. Aquinas won the opening set before dropping the next two to the E.C. Drury Spartans. The Spartans' defence didn't factor as much into the second set as Drury's Tory McCutcheon, bound for the University of Central Florida next year, dominated with her attacks. She registered five kills as Drury took 12 consecutive points to open the set. Aquinas wasn't able to capitalize after a Drury serve went long to give the Raiders their first point. Drury got service back and McCutcheon served up eight straight points to make it 211. Aquinas staved off set point twice -- its only back-to-back points of the final two sets -- but was unable to build off it for the tiebreaker. Any chance of Aquinas staging a turnaround in the third set disappeared early. After exchanging points, Drury scored five straight to take a 61 lead. Leading 8-3, the Spartans closed out the match with seven consecutive points. Houldcroft said his team's performance was even more remarkable given the quality of the opposition. "Peter's teams are always good. They always have been," he said. Aquinas will lose three starters to graduation next season in Medlock, setter Jessica Pecora and libeiro Taryn McKenna. Szpakowski said the loss was particularly hard for that trio. "We've had a good run. We've been to OFSAA a couple of times," he said. "But it's tough when you don't get there in your final year." NIKKI WESLEY / OAKVILLE BEAVER AROUND THE BLOCK: The ball eludes the block attempt of St. Thomas Aquinas' Nicole Walker (right) during Thursday's Halton high school junior girls' volleyball A/AA final at Sheridan College. Also pictured are Milton's Renee Lacenaire (12) and Tiger Loeprich. STA juniors fall to Mustangs Watching their senior teammates struggle against one Milton school probably didn't do wonders for the St. Thomas Aquinas junior Raiders' confidence as they prepared to face another. Aquinas struggled out of the gate in Thursday's Halton high school junior girls' volleyball A/AA final at Sheridan College, falling behind the Milton District Mustangs 23-15 in the opening set. Though the Raiders staged an impressive run to tie the first game 23-23, they would fall 25-23 and then lost the second set 25-21. Aquinas coach Peter Szpakowski said the juniors might have been a bit rattled after seeing the E.C. Drury Spartans roll over the senior Raiders earlier in the afternoon. "I think they were a bit out of sorts with how badly the seniors ended," he said. "I think a lot of it was our nerves. I think we're as good as that team (Milton), but the nerves got the best of us at times." Aquinas might have deserved better in the opening set. After tying the game with eight straight points, Milton over-bumped the Raiders' serve. Fortunately for the Mustangs, however, their return clipped the top of the net and fell to the floor on the Aquinas side. The Raiders shanked the serve reception on the next point. In the second game, the teams went back and forth early before the Mustangs opened up a lead and won by four. "We had a couple chances to put balls away, and we didn't," Szpakowski said. "They held on and we missed our chances." Aquinas was also hurt by the fact that its normal setter, Natasha Ng, missed the final after breaking two of her fingers the previous week. Szpakowski said he was particularly pleased with the play of Christina Carvalho and Meaghan O'Donnell in the loss. Still, it was an odd feeling for the Raiders to come away from the Halton championships empty-handed. Szpakowski said Aquinas had won at least one volleyball title each of the previous 10 years. "It's a bitter pill to swallow," he said. "(The seniors) lost to an excellent E.C. Drury team, and for the juniors it was a step in the right direction." -- Jon Kuiperij Good Knights The Oakville peewee red Knights defeated the Wranglers in an all-Oakville final of a recent hockey tournament in Alliston. The Knights prevailed in a seven-round shootout after the Wranglers forced overtime by scoring on a penalty shot with 34 seconds remaining in regulation. Members of the team are Colin Song, Chris Luongo, Robert Carey, Ryan Casey, Drake Bowie, Nathan Maracle, Quentin Allen, Marc Peters, David Rankin, Josh Carlan, Justin Ioanidis, Coleman Daniels, Mark Cruickshank, Scott Dutra, Alex Festarini and Marc Caughlin. John Daniels, Paul Song, Ron Caughlin and Don Ioanidis coach the team.