Wednesday night saw the Niagara College men's volleyball program get back into the win column, earning an impressive three set sweep over the visiting Redeemer Royals. With a large and boisterous partisan crowd on hand, the Knights utilized their net defense and service game to cruise to a 25-22, 25-22, 25-13 victory.
The win snaps the CCAA's #9 ranked Knights' three game losing streak, moves the team to 12-3 on the season, and into sole possession of second place in the extremely competitive OCAA West Division.
After the match Niagara College men's volleyball head coach Nathan Groenveld commented "it's a great feeling to be back in the win column and to defeat a top-tier program like Redeemer. We played very well as a group tonight and got key contributions across the board."
Leading the way offensively for Niagara were outside hitters Daniel Groenveld (Welland, ON) and Nathan Snippe (St. Anns, ON).
The six-foot-four Groenveld, has been the Knights offensive catalyst all season, leading the team in virtually all offensive categories, and ranking among the top-three in the OCAA West in kills, points, points-per-set, and kills-per-set. Groenveld finished the match with 10 kills, two aces, and two blocks.
The towering six-foot-eight Snippe, has elevated his level of play since returning from the mid-season break. The former Windsor Lancer, is averaging over 16 points per game over his last four matches. Versus the Royals Snippe finished with 10 kill, two blocks and an ace.
Arguably the Knights best player in the match was second-year middle blocker Logan Varga. Coach Groenveld felt the six-foot-five Brantford native "did a fantastic job, and provided (the Knights) with four massive stuff blocks" in the match. Varga is currently enrolled in the Niagara College sport management program.
The Knights will return to action on Sunday, February 2nd when the team travels to Windsor to take on the St. Clair Saints. First-serve for Sunday's match is set for 3:00pm.
