Volleyball seasons set to be served up with October 25th debuts
Burlington, Ont. – Serving up a new season on the courts, the 2024-25 Ontario University Athletics (OUA) volleyball seasons start up on October 25th, 2024.
2024-25 OUA Women’s Volleyball Schedule
2024-25 OUA Men’s Volleyball Schedule
The campaign commences with six games apiece on the women’s and men’s side, including the season debut for the three-time defending Forsyth Cup champion McMaster Marauders. They will travel to Toronto for a rematch of their first of those consecutive titles against the Varsity Blues.
The reigning Quigley Cup winners, who have also accomplished the feat on three straight occasions, will have to wait a week for their season debut, serving up their opener in Week 2 on November 1st. Like the McMaster men, the Badgers will also take on a team they previously bested on the banner season stage – the Queen’s Gaels.
Another team making their season debut that day is one who has no rematches on deck, as they will be new to the OUA women's volleyball circuit this year. The Ottawa Gee-Gees will have their foray into conference play with a road game against RMC, and will have their first taste of home cooking in Week 4 against the York Lions.
The second half of that Week 2 double-header between Brock and Queen’s, meanwhile, is a rematch of the men’s semifinal from a season ago, with the Tricolour collecting the win therein to punch their ticket to the Forsyth Cup finale. The second semifinal bout from a year ago, which featured the Marauders and Guelph Gryphons, hits the court the following week on November 8th.
And while the Badgers and Gryphons ultimately fell short in those semifinal contests last year, the two did meet in a battle for bronze, and it will be the medal-winning Guelph side hosting Brock in Week 4 (Nov. 15th) in their first head-to-head meeting since that third-place tilt.
The marquee matchups continue into Week 5, when fans will be treated to a rematch of the most recent Quigley Cup Championship. After splitting their regular-season series a year ago, Brock earned the four-set win over McMaster in the 2024 finale. The next chapter between those two teams will be written on November 22nd in St. Catharines.
A week later marks the final games of the fall slate, with action returning on January 10th following the holiday break. Serving up the first action of the 2025 calendar year will be Western hosting TMU, Nipissing heading to Guelph, and McMaster welcoming Windsor.
While six weeks are featured as part of the winter festivities, fans will need to wait until the penultimate week to see the Forsyth Cup rematch. Not until February 7th will the Marauders and Gaels lock horns for the first time since their five-set thriller at Burridge Gym last March.
Rounding out that late-season double-header in Hamilton is another taste of semifinal play from the 2024 quest for the Quigley Cup.
Just like the foray into the 2024-25 campaign, the final day – February 15th – will see six women’s and men’s games, respectively. These final efforts will close the book on the 12-week regular season and usher in the three-round postseasons to follow.
The quarterfinals will take place on February 22nd and will be followed by the semifinals on the following Friday (Feb. 28th). The respective OUA campaigns will then come to a close on March 7th, when the coveted Quigley Cup and Forsyth Cup trophies are awarded.
