Knights vs. Hawks
In front of a large home crowd, the Niagara College men's volleyball (5-3, 6th West) program put together their most impressive win of the season. The Knights defeated the sixth ranked team in the CCAA, the Humber Hawks (8-1, 2nd West) in five sets.
After dropping the first set 11-25, Niagara responded in a large way. The Knights rallied from behind in the second set to win 27-25, gaining momentum and recovering their confidence. The third set may be remembered as the most dominant set played by the Knights this season. Backed by spectacular defense and timely attacks, Niagara held the Hawks to only ten points.
Humber would not go away quietly however, winning the fourth 25-17 and forcing a decisive fifth set. With Niagara needing one point to pull off the upset, Humber had their best player serving to keep the match alive but Terrel Bramwell's (Mississauga) serve went into the net, ending the match with a service error.
"When we play with passion and effort we are a very good team and we had a complete team effort tonight," said head coach Nate Groenveld. "These guys showed a lot of poise with their ability to bounce back from that first set loss."
The Knights were led offensively by Nathan Snippe (St. Anns) who had a team high 16 kills combined with two service aces, three stuff blocks and ten digs. Third year outside hitter Jeff Scott (Georgetown) had his best performance of the season, contributing 12 kills with three service aces, two stuff blocks and nine digs.
The defensive effort for Niagara was a key factor in winning this match over Humber. Former Guelph Gryphon and reigning Niagara College Athlete of the Week Aaron Vanderlugt (Burlington) had a season high nine stuff blocks for the Knights. "Our 18 team stuff blocks were enormous," added coach Groenveld, "because they forced some errors from Humber's attackers at key points in the match. This gave us opportunities to exploit our advantages in size, especially in blocking."
During the fourth set, fifth year left side Terrel Bramwell became the new all-time OCAA kills leader with 919, surpassing Keith Marier's record of 910.
Up next for the Knights will be a road game against the Fanshawe Falcons (5-3, 5th West) on December 4.
