Loss has silver lining for Niagara
Niagara College won a medal at the Ontario women’s volleyball championships for the fourth consecutive year, this time settling for silver in a 3-0 loss to Humber. Nathan Janzen, who led the Knights to a bronze in his first season as head coach at the region’s community college, said he was “incredibly proud” of the journey this year’s team took to get to provincials which wrapped up Saturday night at Centennial College in Scarborough. “While it has been a rollercoaster, the ride is well worth it,” he said. “With so much youth, playing for a gold medal will be an invaluable learning experience for our program going forward.” Prospects for Niagara returning home to Welland with a medal appeared dim after the Knights dropped their first two sets to No. 2 seed Fanshawe in the quarter-final round Thursday. “The team went into a gear this group has never played at before,” Janzen said. “With an incredible comeback, we won the last three sets to advance to the semifinals.” Set scores were 18-25, 17-25, 26-24 and 15-12. Niagara advanced to the final with a straight-set sweep of Sheridan — 25-23, 25-11 and 25-16. In the gold medal match, the Knights met their match playing against the gold standard in women’s college volleyball in Ontario. The Hawks came into Saturday night’s final seeking their 11th straight provincial championship. “Despite making the first and third sets close, they were too much for us to handle, beating us in three sets,” the second-year coach said of the loss to Humber. Set scores were 25-22, 25-7 and 25-20 as the Hawks extended a winning streak in league and playoff games to 152. Jordan Koslowski and Rachel Rivers, who were both selected to the tournament all-star team, led Niagara on offence with 15 and nine kills, respectively. Ainsleigh McInnes-Williams and Nastasha Desjardins were standouts on defence for the Knights with 17 and 12 digs, respectively. Desjardins, a Welland native and Jean Vanier graduate, was honoured as Niagara’s player of the game. She had seven kills and 23 assists on offence. Janzen is the third coach to win a medal in women’s volleyball at Niagara in the past four years and the first to win more than one. Ray Sarkis guided the Knights to a silver medal in 201516 as interim head coach after succeeding Joey Martins whose team claimed bronze the year before.
Knights fail to advance
Niagara also competed in provincials in men’s volleyball but bowed out after going 0-2. The Knights opened the eightteam tournament in Barrie with a 3-0 loss to the host Georgian Grizzlies — 25-17, 25-20, 25-17 — before losing in four sets to the Conestoga Condors — 19-25, 25-23, 25-22 and 27-25. “A tough weekend result-wise, but a ton of growth for our very young and inexperienced team,” Niagara head coach Nathan Groenveld said. “I could not be more proud of this group and the work they put in. “We are looking forward to a great off-season and getting ready to battle next season.”