OAKVILLE, Ont. (By Kevin John Sacdalan) - The Sheridan Bruins men's volleyball team (7-6 OCAA) protected home court in a back-to-back last weekend with wins over Cambrian (1-12 OCAA) and Boreal (0-13 OCAA).

The Double-Blue and Cambrian faced off early in the season with the Bruins coming away with the straight set victory.

After taking the first set, 25-18, and the second set, 25-9, it looked as if the Bruins were going to close out Cambrian in straight sets once again.

However, Cambrian continued to play hard, stealing the third set, 25-23.

The Bruins refocused in the fourth set (25-14), winning the match and sweeping the regular season series against Cambrian.

"We didn't compete really hard in the third set," Bruins head coach Frank Pento said. "We had a couple guys in who I was expecting a little bit more from, but we were able to recover in the fourth and get the win."

Newest member of the Double-Blue, Parvir Jhajj, was impactful in this match and has helped the Bruins with his play in January.

"He's an offensive threat," Pento said. "He's able to score on pretty much any set that he gets. Defensively, we're still working on it and he needs to step up that part of his game, but I think he's improved quite a bit since he joined us and we hope to see him continue to improve as the season goes on."

The Bruins kept it rolling in their second match of the back-to-back, taking care of business against the last placed Boreal.

The Double-Blue took the lead in the first set, sitting out in front 13-11.

Despite holding the lead, Pento was not satisfied with his team's performance, calling a timeout.

His team finished out the set, 25-21, to take the 1-0 lead.

They carried over their play into the second set, taking it 25-18.

Although being one set away from the match win, the Bruins found themselves trailing early in the third set, similar to their match with Cambrian.

They were forced to make a comeback, stealing the third and final set, 25-22.

"It's tough to play back-to-back matches," Pento said. "I'm just happy we got the wins."

The Bruins are now 3-1 in their last four games in the new year.

"In the standings, it's huge," Pento said on his team's recent wins. "There's four teams that are one win of each other and everybody's fighting for a playoff spot, so every win matters. We don't care how they come, we just care that they come."

The Bruins will be hitting the road this week with matches against Fanshawe and St. Clair.

"We just got to focus on this week," Pento added. "We have two big matches and we'll see what happens."

These back-to-back wins puts the Bruins in sixth place in the OCAA Western Conference and are only two points away from the third placed Humber Hawks.