NORTH BAY, Ont. - The Sheridan Bruins women's volleyball team are off to the OCAA Championship hosted by Cambrian next weekend, after downing Canadore 3-1 (24-26, 25-19, 25-16, 27-25) in a Round of 16 matchup. 

"I'm really proud of our performance. It's not an easy situation having a long bus ride and then playing in a gym we've never been in before," head coach Scott Hunt said. "We had a few shaky moments but we played well for most of the match. We knew coming in that we had to slow down Canadore's attack and we did a good job putting pressure on them to get them out of system often."

With a 2-1 advantage in the fourth set, the Bruins jumped out to a 9-2 lead but were unable to slam the door. Canadore chipped away and were poised to force a fifth set with a 23-22 edge, but the Double Blue clawed back and were finally able to seal the win thanks to a pair of back-to-back aces from Celine Blanchette. 

Sheridan won the the second and third sets in relatively comfortable fashion, which provided a critical confidence boost after the first set slipped through the grasp. They led 22-18 but saw the home side storm back, closing the set on an 8-1 run to take a 1-0 lead. 

The Bruins will see a familiar foe in Sudbury, squaring off against Humber in the quarter-final. The Hawks advanced after disposing of George Brown in their own Round of 16 contest.

Blue notes: The championship will have a decidedly Western flavour, with seven of the eight teams coming from the West Division. Only Durham, regular season champions of the East Division, qualified from that side of the league. Fanshawe, St. Clair, Mohawk, Niagara, and Cambrian rounding out the field.