Knights going for gold medals in V-ball
Niagara women return to provincial volleyball championships for fifth straight season
Sudbury is Canada’s Nickel City, but the Niagara Knights are seeking different metals when the Ontario women’s volleyball championships open Friday at Cambrian College.
Niagara is going to provincials for the fifth year in a row and again is going for gold after settling for silver in 2018 and ’16 and winning bronze medals in ’15 and ’17.
Jordan Koslowski, 15 kills, two service aces; Natasha Desjardins, 13 kills, two service aces; and Olivia Burnie, 13 kills; scored double digits for Niagara on Saturday in Ottawa, where the Knights defeated Algonquin, 3-2, in a crossover qualifier.
After taking the opening set 25-20, Niagara rebounded from 25-21, 25-14 with 25-14, 15-12 victories to silence the Thunder.
First-year head coach Natasha Spaling is pleased with the progress the team has shown since the outset of the 2018-19 season. She said the No. 1 goal is to “work hard and improve every week.”
“So far I think we have done an excellent job of getting better and working as a team to achieve success on the court,” she said.
Going to the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) championships is “very exciting” for the Knights, though not to the point of forgetting what it took them to get there.
“We are preparing for it, just like we have all season,” Spaling said. “Most of our emphasis is going to be on our team’s ball control, serve reception and serving aggression.”
St. Clair, Niagara’s quarter-final opponent at provincials, defeated the Knights twice in league play. Each went five sets: Dec. 1, in Windsor; Feb. 2, in Welland.
“I think that this will be an excellent match for both teams.”
Knights 3, Panthers 1
At Welland, Niagara defeated visiting Canadore in four sets Saturday to qualify for the OCAA men’s volleyball championships.
Set scores were 25-18, 22-25, 25-11 and 25-22, with Elijah Bugliardini, 17 kills, one service ace; Micah Nieuwets, 14 kills; Tristan Swinden, nine kills, service aces, three stuff blocks; and Jaydon Milne, nine kills, service ace, two stuff blocks; standouts for the Knights.
“I thought we stuck to our game plan really well and were able to take advantage of their aggressive blocking early by moving the ball around well,” head coach Tommy Sloan said. “We got some good aggressive serving out of a few different guys in the third and fourth sets, which really helped us dictate the tempo of the match.”
He praised Ben Fillmore for running the Niagara offence in the qualifier against a nonconference opponent.
“His decision-making and ability to read the game were fantastic.”
Niagara opens provincials at Humber College in Toronto against Georgian.
“We’ve seen them once this year, and they are a good team with several big offensive weapons,” Sloan said. “Mentally, we’ve been very good at staying in the moment this season, and that will be the same message going into this weekend.”
Niagara’s last provincial medal in men’s volleyball was a gold four years ago.
Home-court advantage
Niagara hosts Loyalist Saturday hoping to extend a winning streak to four games and advance to the OCAA men’s basketball championships.
Niagara clinched home-court advantage for the crossover qualifier versus the nonconference Lancers by finishing the regular season third in the West Division with a 15-5 record. Loyalist, 11-9, was fifth in the east.
Van Hutchinson Jr., 21 points, 12 rebounds; Lequan Hylton, 17; and Jordon McDonald, 16; paced the Knights on offence in a 92-91 victory over Fanshawe in the season finale in London. With the win, Niagara avenged an
89-88 loss to the Falcons in the opener of the home-and-home series Nov. 30 in Welland.
“This was a gutsy performance, and will hopefully give us confidence heading in the playoffs,” head coach
Phil Mosley said. “We relied on all 10 players available to contribute to this victory.
The first year coach added he was “very proud” of the team’s composure down the stretch.
It was the Knights’ second win in the last week of the season. They dominated visiting Conestoga 124-84 in a game highlighted by a triple-double for Hutchinson: 43 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists.
Hylton shot 5-for-6 from beyond the three-point arc finishing the game with 20 points.
Johnnie Richardson added 13 points for the Knights.
Crossover qualifier
Niagara finished the regular sixth in the west division and will visit George Brown, the second seed from the east, in the qualifying round of the women’s basketball playoffs.
Winner of the 1 p.m. tipoff Saturday in Toronto advances to compete in the OCAA championships Feb. 28 to March 2 at St. Lawrence College in Kingston.
Despite being double-teamed for much of the game, Bridget Atkinson led the Knights in scoring with 20 in a 74-57 road loss to Fanshawe in the season finale.
While Niagara dropped to 11-9 and Fanshawe improved to 19-1, there was a lot to like as far as Knights head coach Mike Beccaria was concerned.
“We’ve progressed a lot this semester and hopefully are peaking at the proper time.”
He was impressed with how Niagara “battled hard” in the second half against the strong Falcons team.
“If we can continue at that level, we could do really well in the playoffs.”
Hannah Baker scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds for the Knights. Atkinson, with 37 points and 11 rebounds; Alannah Yates, 11; and Rysa Delmundo, 10, topped Niagara in scoring in an 80-57 win vs. Conestoga.