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www.insideHALTON.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Friday, November 18, 2011 · 40 Senior Raiders' upset bid falls just short versus Pearson SERVE'S UP: St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders player Chris Franko delivers a serve during Monday's Halton senior boys' volleyball Tier 2 final at Sheridan College. Aquinas won the first set and came within two points of winning the match, but Lester B. Pearson rallied to claim an 18-25, 25-23, 15-8 decision. MICHAEL IVANIN / OAKVILLE BEAVER who has been assisted for the past four years by Cam Sullivan. "We went to three (sets) in various games this season so they A change in strategy helped the L.B. kind of tapped into that." Aquinas couldn't adapt to Pearson's Pearson Patriots come back to win the Halton high school Tier 2 boys volleyball corrections, dropping the third set 15-8. "Most of our starters returned (for title in three sets over the St. Thomas another year of Grade 12) Aquinas Raiders Monday at "They were blocking us and part of their motivation Sheridan College. was to go for a Halton title," Favoured to win the a lot in the first set, so said Racicot. crown after going 10-1 and we ran more middle The win has an added defeating Aquinas 2-0 in attacks and offside bonus for Pearson -- and regular-season play, the attacks. They were also hurt even more for Aquinas Patriots nevertheless found -- in that the Patriots themselves down 1-0 after a tipping a lot, so we had earned a direct berth to the 25-18 first-set Aquinas to change our defensive Ontario Federation of f win. strategy." y School Athletic Associations "They were blocking us a (OFSAA) AA volleyball lot in the first set, so we ran Lester B. Pearson Patriots championships in Stratford more middle attacks and coach Kerry Racicot Nov. 23-26. offside attacks," said Kerry On the way to the Halton final, Pearson Racicot, who has coached the Patriots for the past six years. "They were also tipping ousted Bateman in the quarter-finals and a lot, so we had to change our defensive E.C. Drury in the semifinals. Aquinas posted a 2-0 win over Aldershot strategy." The changes worked, with Pearson edg- in the quarter-finals and defeated ing Aquinas (9-2 during the regular sea- Assumption 2-1 in the semis. son) 25-23 to force a deciding set. -- Kevin Nagel can be followed d "Our team, all season long, has thrived on Twitter at @BPostSports under pressure situations," said Racicot, By Kevin Nagel METROLAND MEDIA GROUP Pair of f OAK products headed to Michigan Best winless team ever? Two Oakville Aquatic Club (OAK) standouts will soon be headed to the University of Michigan, as Marni Oldershaw and Sharalynn Missiuna have signed with the Wolverines for the 2012-13 season. Oldershaw was ranked 55th in CollegeSwimming.com recruit rankings, the highest-rated of five Michigan signings from the website's top-150 list. The Iroquois Ridge student was ranked as the eighth-best international recruit. A member of Canada's national junior team, Oldershaw holds 11 Canadian age group records, including seven in medley relays. She finished ninth in the 400-metre individual medley and 13th in the 200m IM in August at the world junior championships in Lima, Peru. Oldershaw also turned in three top-10 finishes at the Canadian senior national championships on Monday and also swam three events at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships. In addition, she has qualified for the 2012 Olympic trials in nine events. Oldershaw set two provincial high school records in winning both the 100m and 200m IM at OFSAA in March. Missiuna is a sprint freestyle swimmer who was a B finalist in the 50m freestyle at this year's Canadian World Championships team trials and last year's Canadian Pan Pacific trials. She is currently ranked fourth in Canada in the 50m freestyle and sixth in the 100m freestyle for her age group. Missiuna set both short- and long-course age The T.A Blakelock Tigers junior boys' football team might end up being the best winless squad in Halton high school history. The Tigers, who officially went 0-7 and were outscored 119-0 in regular-season play this year, will play for a Tier 2 championship next week after earning a 30-17 double-overtime victory over the Loyola Hawks in Wednesday's semifinals. Those unflattering regularseason statistics are misleading, however. Blakelock was forced to forfeit all its games this year after the school informed Halton convener Darrin Curtis that the Tigers had been playing with an ineligible player. Curtis told the Beaver he didn't know why the player had been ruled ineligible, but noted that all teams in Tier 2 football qualified for the playoffs. Blakelock will face the Christ the King Jaguars in Tuesday's Tier 2 championship game at McMaster University, a contest that will kick off at 10 a.m. Local teams in other finals Oakville teams will be involved HIGH SCHOOLSPORTS in the three other Halton football finals being contested next week as well. The Loyola Hawks will take on the Bishop Reding Royals in Tuesday's senior Tier 2 final, slated for a noon kickoff at McMaster. Loyola blanked the Georgetown Rebels 22-0 in this week's semifinals, while Reding downed the Abbey Park Eagles 22-2. Wednesday, the Tier 3 finals will be played, also at McMaster. Iroquois Ridge earned a berth in the senior title game after downing the Burlington Central Trojans 23-17 in overtime yesterday (Thursday). The Trailblazers will face either the Aldershot Lions or Oakville Trafalgar Red Devils, who played in yesterday's other semifinal. The junior Tier 3 final will feature Oakville Trafalgar or Iroquois Ridge versus Lester B. Pearson or Milton District, depending on yesterday's semifinal results. Wednesday's games will begin at 10 a.m. (junior) and noon (senior). OAKVILLE BEAVER FILE PHOTO MICHIGAN-BOUND: Oakville Aquatic Club member Marni Oldershaw (pictured, above) and teammate Sharalynn Missiuna have both committed to the University of Michigan, where they will join the swim team for the 2012-13 season. group records as part of OAK's 13-14 girls' 200m and 400m medley relay. Missiuna won an OFSAA A silver medal in the 50m freestyle, missing gold by less than a tenth of a second.