Knights get a big lift from hometown support
WATERLOO — Joshua Janzen enjoys the comforts of home, like waking up in his own bed and eating familiar food.
On the other hand, the Bluevale Knights’ talented left-side hitter would have been OK with hitting the road for the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations triple-A volleyball championship that is currently underway at RIM Park.
“The biggest negative about playing at home is we don’t get to stay in a hotel and hang out with friends, that kind of thing,” Janzen said.
“The biggest positive is we have fans out to watch us and support us, which is great.”
The 13th-ranked Knights wrapped up Day 1 of the 20-team OFSAA championship with a 1-1 record, downing the No. 7 Neil McNeil Maroons of Toronto, 2-0 (26-24, 25-22), in their opening match and falling, 2-0 (25-19, 25-23), to the No. 4 Oakridge Oaks of London.
A vocal and supportive crowd supported the Central Western Ontario (CWOSSA) champion Knights in both matches and the local lads responded with a pair of strong performances against higher-ranked opponents.
The Knights are scheduled for two more games Friday and will then see whether they’ve done enough to move on. Four teams from each of the five-team groups will advance on the championship or consolation side after pool play is completed.
Janzen, who is optimistic the Knights will advance, said the calibre of play at OFSAA is similar to what he experienced during his time with the Kitchener-Waterloo Predators at club tournaments.
“It’s really good volleyball,” said the former Team Ontario player. “The WCSSAA (Waterloo County) league wasn’t too strong this year but once you got to CWOSSA and now OFSAA, it just keeps getting better.”
Bluevale teammate Trevor Carlson, who still plays with the Predators, said the Knights should be proud of their performance Thursday and he’s hopeful there will be more of the same Friday.
“Our goal was to come in, play hard every point and get as many points as we possibly could,” he said.
“And that’s what we did today. We’re having a good time and fighting hard and we’re just hoping to get to move on.”
Carlson agrees with Janzen that there are pros and cons to playing at home and points to one of the positives as something that could help Bluevale on Friday.
“We get to sleep in a little bit later than everyone else,” he said.
The No. 16 Forest Heights Trojans lost both matches Thursday, falling 2-0 (25-19, 25-17) to the No. 1 York Mills Titans of Toronto and 2-0 to the No. 6 St. Marcellinus Spirit of Mississauga. The Trojans will look to the right the ship Friday in hopes of moving on.
Quarter-final playoff games will also be contested Friday at RIM Park before the tournament moves to Forest Heights Collegiate and Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary School on Saturday for the semifinals and championship. The consolation final, bronze-medal match and gold-medal match are scheduled for SJAM at 1 p.m., 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.
Meanwhile at the OFSAA single-A volleyball championship in Toronto, the Woodland Cavaliers and Rockway Flames are both 1-1 after the opening day of play.
No. 11 Woodland opened with a 2-1 (20-25, 25-17, 15-12) loss to No. 6 Hamilton District and rebounded to defeat No. 20 St. Michael’s Choir School of Toronto 2-0 (25-17, 25-14)
No. 15 Rockway fell, 2-0 (25-19, 25-15), to No. 2 Toronto District Christian and defeated No. 5 Timiskaming, 2-0 (25-23, 25-13).
Both teams have at least two more games Friday.
In basketball, the No. 15 Sir John A. Macdonald Highlanders lost a pair of games at the OFSAA girls triple-A championship in Guelph.
Joanna Bamberger led the Highlanders with 16 points in a 48-33 loss to No. 5 St. Patrick of Sarnia and Griffin Lack-Shane had 11 in a 56-30 loss to No. 2 Notre Dame of Welland.
At the single-A championship in Timmins, No. 5 Woodland received a 20-point performance from Sydney VanderHoef in a 55-23 win over No. 17 Red Lake.