Thursday, November 26th saw the Niagara College men's Volleyball program drop to 4-3 on the season after a tough three-set road loss to the Sheridan Bruins (6-2). Despite the match running just three sets, the two evenly match teams battled each other hard posting set scores of 25-23, 25-20, 27-25.
"Tonight was a tough loss" said Knights men's volleyball head coach Nathan Groenveld. "The biggest key was our inability to match their defence. Sheridan played really well and their two outside hitters had a great night for them."
The Bruins were paced by their veteran two-headed offensive attack of Josh Butler (12 points) and Jeremy Fantin (11 points). Both outside hitters rank among the OCAA West leaders in kills and points per set.
Coach Greonveld felt his team competed well against a quality opponent, but simply "failed to put balls away" in the match. The young Knights side, which bolsters several first-year players in key offensive roles, endured attacking errors at key moments of the game.
"The OCAA West Division is so tough night in and night out and we are still learning to compete and work consistently at our highest level" added Groenveld.
Current Niagara College SAC athlete of the week Aaron Vanderlugt (Burlington) paced the Knights offense finishing with five kills and a block, while first year outside hitter Cole Jordan (London) provided a major spark for the team off the bench turning in four kills and a block in just one set of playing time.
The Knights will have little time to reflect of the loss as the team will host the OCAA's top-ranked Humber Hawks (7-1) on Sunday, November 30th at the Welland Campus athletic centre. First serve is set for 3:00pm. Admission is free for current NC students, and for those unable to be in attendance, all home games are live broadcast at www.ocaatv.com.
