Defending champion Regiopolis Notre Dame Panthers begin their bid to retain that Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations boys AAA volleyball title Friday night in a quarter-final match with Louis Riel of Gloucester.

The Panthers, seeded ninth, finished the preliminary round of the tournament in Windsor undefeated, after they beat St. Michael’s of Toronto 2-1 Friday morning and Waterdown 2-0 (25-11, 25-14) Friday afternoon.

St. Mike’s, the No. 3 seed, beat Regi 25-19 in the first set, handing the undefeated Panthers just their second set loss of the season, but the Panthers came back to win the match, 25-23, 15-11.

Louis Riel, the tournament’s 11th seed, emerged from its preliminary pool having won three of its four matches.

Three of the top eight seeds did not reach the championship round.

Holy Cross Crusaders, the second local team at the tournament, failed to win a match in four tries. On Friday, they were defeated 2-0 by both Longfields-Davidson of Ottawa (25-14, 25-20) and Chatham-Kent (25-21, 25-20).

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At the AA championship in Kenora, the Kingston Blues, after dropping their first match Thursday, stretched their winning streak to three matches as they defeated Applewood Heights of Mississauga 2-0 (25-14, 25-18) in their final preliminary match Friday.

The Blues, the tournament’s fourth-seeded team, finished the round robin 3-1, second to St. Catharines Eden, which was good for a berth in the championship quarter-finals against No. 10 Saugeen Friday night. Saugeen finished its preliminary round robin 4-0.