Comox Valley’s Jackson Dakin and his Queens Gaels men’s volleyball team are peaking at the right time.
After getting their season off to a slow start, the No. 10 Gaels knocked off the No. 5 Western Mustangs on Saturday to win the 2012 Ontario University Athletics (OAU) championship in London, Ont.
Dakin, a setter and co-captain with the Gaels and former captain of the Highland Raiders and Team BC, now leads the Gaels into the 2012 Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) championships, which they host March 2-4 in Kingston. Joining them will be Western, Dalhousie, Laval, Manitoba, Alberta, Calgary and Trinity Western.
The Gaels, who impressed the Comox Valley last winter with their exhibition game, battled early season injuries but pulled it together when it counted, sweeping their last eight matches. They rallied from being down two sets to one to beat the hometown Mustangs in five sets in the OAU final four, where Dakin had 49 assists.
Dakin has played for Queens for the past four years while studying Engineering Chemistry. His progress and growth as a player has seen him recognized five times this year as Player of the Match and twice as Athlete of the Week. The 6′,4″ Dakin finished his season leading all setters in Canada in blocking and is in the top 10 of most setting categories across the nation.
The Gaels are not only hosting the CIS nationals, but eight of their senior players are graduating. As host, they were guaranteed an automatic berth, but taking the OAU crown proves they are a team to be reckoned with this weekend.
Queens (12-6 regular season) goes into the nationals seeded No. 5 and meet No. 4 Alberta Golden Bears (15-5) in their first game Friday. Defending champion TWU (19-1) is the pre-tourney favourite. All 11 games will be webcast live by SSN Canada (www.ssncanada.ca). More info on the nationals is available at www.gogaelsgo.com.
