The Niagara Knights men's volleyball program (14-4, 2nd OCAA West) will be seeking their second consecutive gold medal, and fifth in program history, this week at the OCAA Championships hosted by Seneca College. Niagara enters the championship as the OCAA's second ranked team, and will be one of the favourites at the event for a second straight year.
The Knights finished out the regular season winning seven of their nine games in the second half. The team will be led by 2015 OCAA Tournament MVP Steve Stone (St. Catharines), who once again established himself as one of the premier setters in the province. Stone averaged 9.00 assists per set, good for second best in the province this season. He was a key cog in a powerful Knights offence that finished second in the OCAA in points per set, kills per set, and hitting percentage.
On the attack end of Stone's consistent passing were Nathan Snippe (St. Anns) and Jeff Scott (Georgetown), both of which finished the season ranked in the top 10 in OCAA scoring. Snippe finished third in the OCAA with an average of 4.1 points per set and 3.5 kills per set. Scott finished the season ranking 10th with an average of 3.5 points per set.
Collectively the Knights are a confident bunch entering the championship. They will also be looking to receive significant contributions from Sameh Khodr (Kalamoun, Lebanon) and Cole Jordan (London) both of whom have been heavily leaned upon by the Knights are times throughout the season. Jordan understands what it takes to play under pressure, winning player of the match honours at both the OCAA and CCAA Championships last year. He was also named a CCAA First-Team All-Star in the Knights CCAA bronze medal performance.
Niagara last won back-to-back OCAA gold medals in the 1999-00 and 2000-01 seasons, losing only one match to OCAA competition in the process. Although the regular season results may not match this time around, the Knights have an opportunity to offer up a repeat performance despite facing a strong field.
Head Coach Nathan Groenveld is excited for the opportunity to defend their title. Although there are a number of teams that have what it takes to usurp the defending champions, Groenveld believes in his team. "We have all the answers and we just need to execute at a high level for three days," said the coach, "We are going to rely on our veterans who have done this before to steer the ship."
The tournament will kick off on Thursday afternoon when the Knights take on the Durham Lords (16-4, 3rd OCAA East). The Knights and Lords have never met in the regular season, but met twice in recent playoff memory. Niagara knocked off Durham 3-2 in the bronze quarter-final of the 2013 OCAA Championships, with Durham returning the favour at the 2014 OCAA Championship with a 3-2 opening round win over the Knights.
Should the Knights win their first round match-up against Durham, they will find themselves in a semi-final matchup with either the Fleming Knights (16-4, 1st OCAA East) or Mohawk Mountaineers (13-5, 4th OCAA West). The championship match will take place on Saturday, February 27 at 5:00 pm. All games at the OCAA Championship will be streamed live at http://senecasting.ca/varsity/2016_OCAA_MVB/Webcast.
