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Raiders stamp OFSAA ticket In a game where everything was on the line, the St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders had to play as if they had nothing to lose. The Raiders earned a berth in the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) girls' volleyball AA tournament Tuesday with a 25-23, 12-25, 25-20, 26-24 victory over Hamilton's Academie Catholique MereTeresa Jaguars. Aquinas didn't take control of the 110minute marathon match until its started getting aggressive with its hits in the fourth set. The undersized Raiders won two of the first three games with soft dumps and strong defence, but the Jaguars caught on to Aquinas' strategy in the fourth set. After ACMT pulled ahead 16-9 in the fourth set, Aquinas coach Peter Szpakowski told his players to cut loose. "We had to get a couple hits, just a couple hits, to keep them off guard for the dumps," Szpakowski said. "When we get on a roll and start hitting and we're winning by a lot, the girls swing away and can all hit really well. In a tight game they tighten up, and that's partly me being conservative and counting on our defence to win. That only gets you so far, though." A couple of kills by Jess Reynolds and othersr by Nicole Walker and Cassie Rogers did the trick. Aquinas avoided a fifth and deciding set by scoring 17 of the final 25 points, clinching the match when a Jaguars' spike landed out of bounds. "We realized this could be the last (high school) game for many girls," said Raiders setter Michayla Caughlin. "We didn't want to remember it as something not so great." Aquinas will make its third OFSAA appearance in four years when it competes in the provincial tournament next week in Perth. Szpakowski knows his team will need to be aggressive at OFSAA as well. Playing with early leads would help. "We're going to have to swing. We can swing, but if we dig ourselves a hole it's a different game," he said. Szpakowski suggested the Raiders won't likely get much respect from OFSAA organizers, despite their 80-21 record on the year. The coach anticipated Aquinas will be ranked in the middle of the 16-team field. -- Jon Kuiperij Ice eliminated from PWHL playoffs The Oakville Ice was eliminated from the Provincial Women's Hockey League playoffs last weekend. The Ice dropped a pair of road games against the Bluewater Hawks to lose their opening-round best-of-three series in two games. Bluewater won the opening game 32 Saturday on a goal with 14 seconds left in regulation time, then clinched the series the following day with a 4-1 victory. Danielle Scarlett and Alie BrindAmourMcClure had the Oakville markers Saturday, while Jaclyn Conacher had the lone Ice marker Sunday. Ali Binnington took the loss in goal in both games despite stopping 67 of 74 shots. 27 · Thursday, March 4, 2010 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.oakvillebeaver.com