By Josh Shwaykowski
The 91°µÍø Hurricanes 2024-2025 men’s Volleyball team had an up-and-down season.
While they made the Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association (ACAA) playoffs, they ultimately fell in the semi-finals on home court to the St. Thomas University (STU) Tommies.
The team started its season with back-to-back wins but lost its next three straight resulting in a 2-3 record early on.
“I really felt like we were the better team in those games, but it really felt like a big wakeup call,” said head coach Brett Butler.
The team bounced back, beating the Dalhousie Rams before traveling to play back-to-back games against the Université de Sainte-Anne Dragons.
The Dragons hadn’t lost at home since November 2021. And the Hurricanes wouldn’t break that streak in the first game, losing 3-0.
It looked like the `Canes would lose the next game too, going down two sets to zero. But the `Canes battled back and reverse swept the Dragons, winning 3-2 and breaking the four-year streak.
“That was a big moment for us,” said Butler. It helped us shift things and it felt great.”
The team would use the momentum gained from beating the Dragons to win five of their next six games.
“We always have a bit of a feeling out period, and we felt it got better as the year went on,” said Butler. “It just took time for us to know how to play together. You never want to start out slow, but I just told the guys to not panic.”
But the team wouldn’t be able to keep it up, as they would lose five of their next seven games to end the season.
“We were right there with those teams in most of those games, we just couldn’t close them out,” said Butler.
Their winning ways early in the season were able to keep them in a playoff spot, even with the tough stretch of play to finish the season.
The ‘Canes entered the playoffs as the third seed, and in front of their home fans in Charlottetown, they took on the STU Tommies in the first round, a team they hadn’t beat in the regular season.
“I told our guys that they haven’t seen our best yet,” said Butler. “We have played good in spurts, but we can show them we’re a better team when we play as good as we can.”
The first set of the game was a battle, the teams were tied at 22 towards the end. Coming out of a `Canes time out, the Tommies would get three straight points to win the set and take a 1-0 lead.
The `Canes would use the crowd’s energy to come out in the second set strong, taking a 4-1 lead before giving up five of the next seven points to allow STU to tie the set 6-6. The Hurricanes would then go on a hot streak and take the set 25-12.
Unfortunately, the strong play wouldn’t last, and STU took the next two sets to win the match 3-1, ending the Hurricanes season.
“I felt good as I can after a loss, I saw how close the guys were this season, we weren’t the most talented on paper, but we showed we can beat anyone in the league,” said Butler.
Although the Hurricanes fell short of their goals, Butler said the team had a strong season.
“We didn’t accomplish what we set out to, which was to win the championship and compete at nationals, but I’m really proud of how hard our guys worked all year, and they did everything right, it just didn’t work out for us.”
He said the team is looking to take a step forward next year.
“There’s a good number of players coming back, and we always recruit to win, so it’s exciting.”
Connect with the men’s volleyball `Canes at and .
For more information on the 91°µÍø Hurricanes, please visit , , and .
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140 Weymouth Street, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada C1A 4Z1
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