(London, Ontario) – On Saturday evening, the #4 Fanshawe Women's Volleyball team (25-1) swept the #6 Briercrest Clippers, 3-0, to win the CCAA National bronze medal. The bronze is the first national medal in Fanshawe Women's Volleyball history.

The Falcons looked solid in the opening set, controlling the battle at the net. A tricky serve from Janelle Albert (Brampton, ON) led to a nice kill from Ainsley Acton (Lucan, ON) to make the score 11-9 for Fanshawe. They would then stretch that lead to 17-11 with a hit from Danielle Grasman (Komoka, ON). A huge block from Meghan Morelli (London, ON) got the Fanshawe fans on their feet as they went up 23-18. The Birds would go on and win set one 25-19.

Briercrest got off to a quick start in the second set, but the Falcons once again showed their composure and chipped away. Fanshawe took a 10-9 lead on a Morelli kill and the Falcons would only build on that advantage from there. A block from Tarea Heshka (Erin, ON) gave the red and white a 23-15 lead and despite the Clippers best efforts, they could not recover. Fanshawe went up 2-0 on the match with a 25-18 second set victory.

Fanshawe used their fans as momentum and showed that they were locked in during the third set. Another excellent block by Morelli followed by a rocket left side kill from Albert made the score 19-13 in favour of the Falcons. The Birds continued their dominant performance, as Katie Stewart (Gananoque, ON) set up Grasman for match point and she would make no mistake, completing the kill and the win 25-22.

"It feels great to see this group of great people be successful," said Head Coach Sean Pellow. "This team has worked extremely hard to become such a cohesive group and have stayed focused to achieve this goal, I am so proud of them."

Morelli was named the player of the match with a game-high 20 points. Albert was named a CCAA Tournament First Team All-Star for her outstanding performance throughout the weekend. The CCAA National Championship was hosted by Niagara College in Welland.