Saturday, March 22nd will see 10 members of the Niagara College men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball programs participate in the annual OCAA All-Star Weekend being hosted by Durham College. The Durham athletic centre will be a busy venue, as four all-star games and five skills competitions will be contested.
Five Niagara College student-athletes will take part in the all-star games themselves. The Knights men’s volleyball program leads with way with a pair of participants, as OCAA first-team all-stars Daniel Groenveld (Welland) and Bailey Cochrane (Barrie) will both compete. Joining them will be women’s volleyballer Alexandria Botelho (Stoney Creek), veteran women’s basketball player Shelby Johnston (Welland), and men’s basketball team captain Aidan Alize-Minty (Elmvale).
The volleyball skills competition will see winners crowned in the hardest spike, most accurate passing, and serving accuracy categories.
On the women’s side, outside hitter Madison Morgan (Whitby) will compete in the hardest spike event, while OCAA second-team all-star Kayde Bailey (Burlington) will compete in the service and passing accuracy competitions.
For the men, the recently named CCAA All-Canadian Groenveld will look to demonstrate his power in hardest spike, while the rookie standout Cochrane will represent the Knights in the accuracy events. Groenveld ranked among the OCAA’s leaders in kills this season, while Cochrane led the OCAA West in digs despite missing five games due to injury.
The basketball skills events will see a three-point shooting champion and ‘NBA Skills Challenge’ winner crowned. Alize-Minty and rookie perimeter shooter Mary Ingribelli (St. Catharines) will represent Niagara College in the three-point event. Both players served as the key outside threat shooter for their team offense’s this season.
In the NBA Skills challenge, rookie guard Levi Mukuna (Hamilton) will compete on the men’s side while veteran forward Miranda Ross (St. Catharines) will compete for the women.
The skills competitions will get underway at 9:30am followed by the games beginning at 1:00pm. All events will be live broadcasted at www.dchosts.com.
