The Holland Hurricanes will take the court on Thursday in Red Deer, Alberta to play their quarter-final match at the 2019 Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) National Men’s Volleyball Championship; the ‘Canes will face the Fanshawe College Falcons (London, Ontario) at 4pm Atlantic time.

The eight-team field consists of five conference champions, two runners-up and a host team, the Red Deer Kings.  The Fanshawe Falcons were the Ontario Collegiate Athletic Association (OCAA) champions, while the Hurricanes were the champions from the Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association (ACAA).

All-Canadian and All-Conference player Brett Butler looks forward to playing in his third career CCAA National Championship.

“We are all excited to compete against the top teams in the nation. Fanshawe is a very strong team with lots of height and athleticism, they are the top seed for a reason. We will have to raise our game to keep pace but our team is very comfortable in the underdog role. We can’t wait to play.”

The Hurricanes finished the regular season with an 8-7 record, which included a strong second half with a record of 6-2 from January on; they entered the ACAA Championships as the third seed.  On home-court they ousted the second-seed, University of New Brunswick-Saint John Seawolves in semi-final action before winning a thrilling conference championship game in four-sets over the number one seed, St. Thomas University Tommies.

First-year head coach Max Arsenault has been impressed with his team during the second half of the season. 

“We are very excited to be competing at the CCAA Championship this week.  Our team performed well in our conference championships and we look to bring that game to the court this week in Red Deer.”

The last time the Hurricanes men competed at the CCAA National Men’s Volleyball Championship was in 2017 when the Falcons hosted in London, ON.  The Hurricanes hosted the event in 2015 in Charlottetown at the Holland College Centre for Community Engagement.

The Fanshawe College Falcons defended their OCAA crown this season with a five-set victory over the Humber College Hawks in the conference championship final last week. During the regular season, Fanshawe finished atop the OCAA West Division standings with a perfect 22-0 record; the Falcons were the CCAA National silver medalists in 2018.

For more information on the 2019 CCAA National Men’s Volleyball Championship, including access to viewing all tournament games live, visit www.ccaa.ca.

To connect with the men’s volleyball Hurricanes, visit www.twitter.com/canesmvball.

For more information on the Holland Hurricanes, visit www.hollandhurricanes.com, www.facebook.com/hollandhurricanes, www.twitter.com/hc_hurricanes and www.instagram.com/hollandhurricanes.

-30-