Niagara College head volleyball coach Nathan Groenveld has had an excellent recruiting season and he's not done yet.

Groenveld recently announced that middle blocker Tristan Swinden will be joining the defending OCAA champions for the upcoming 2015-16 men's volleyball season.  Swinden hails from Anderson Collegiate Vocational Institute in Whitby, ON., where the three-time team captain and team MVP won a gold and silver medal competing in the Lake Ontario Secondary School Athletics (LOSSA) playoffs.  He capped his high school career with the Raiders in impressive fashion, leading the squad to an 8-1-3 regular season record, losing only five sets all season long. 

"I am excited to get Tristan in a Knights jersey," said coach Groenveld.  "He is an intelligent, dynamic middle with great athleticism.  Tristan will add depth and movement to our offence and will be a strong presence at the net defensively."

Swinden is familiar with what it takes to play championship caliber volleyball, as he competed for one of the premiere volleyball clubs in all of Canada, the Durham Attack.  The club won multiple medals during Swinden's four-year tenure, culminating in a fifth place finish this season at the 18U Volleyball Canada National Championships in Calgary.

Swinden will enroll in the business administration program at Niagara College.

"I am very excited to attend Niagara College for numerous reasons," Swinden said.  "I like the setting, the programs and services offered, as well as the reputation of the college.  All the students I know speak so highly of Niagara College and I am eager to begin my career as a Niagara Knight."

Swinden, along with recruits Andrew VandenBurg (St. Catharines, ON), Aidan Atkinson (Ingersoll, ON), Matt Friesen (Gruthal, MB), and Mark Wikkerink (Trenton, ON) will join the rest of the Niagara College men's volleyball program in an exhibition game on the road against the Western Mustangs of the OUA.

The 2015-16 OCAA men's volleyball regular season will get underway October 22 at the Welland Campus Athletic Centre when the Knights host the revamped Fanshawe Falcons.