Anyone who follows volleyball in Peel knows that the two powerhouses are Mississauga and Rick Hansen. They are the perennial ROPSSAA finalists. This year, Mississauga was the slightly more successful of the two and seemed to be on pace for another division title over rival Rick Hansen and another #1 seed in the playoffs. Now they are suddenly 0-20, with every set registered as an 0-25 loss.
What happened?
The assumption at first was that there must have been an ineligible player that wasn't caught in time. As unfortunate as that is, it happens from time to time in Peel and the powerhouses aren't immune.
However, a bit of digging has revealed that the decision was internal; the school itself chose to forfeit all their games and end the season early. No one is saying exactly what happened but word is there was an incident last year and a repeat this year that lead to this action.
As I don't know exactly what happened it's hard to judge the appropriateness of the action. However, schools aren't in the habit of throwing in the towel on OFSAA medal-calibre programs without very good reason so I'll give Mississauga SS credit for taking whatever happened seriously and applying serious consequences.
Now the second ROPSSAA berth is wide open. Rick Hansen is now #1 seed. They would have been the #9 seed otherwise. This benefits them and what would have been their higher-seeded opponents. As the teams are pre-seeded based on divisions, it's hard to say who really is the second best team. Is it Streetsville who is stuck behind Mississauga and Rick Hansen in the same division; Stephen Lewis who is technically the second seed; or Robert Hall which only lost one set all season? Regardless, the playoffs aren't as predictable all of a sudden.
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