February 10, 2024
OTTAWA, ONT:, The 6th place Niagara College men's volleyball team took to the road to square off with the 3rd place Algonquin Wolves Saturday afternoon in their qualifying playoff game. The Knights put up a valiant fight but could just not muster up enough as the Wolves took the match 3-1 (Set scores were 19-25, 25-20, 22-25 and 22-25).
The match started off as a back-and-forth affair with the Wolves taking the first set. The Knights battled back with a strong effort to take the second set, but alas were defeated as the Wolves took the remaining two sets to win the game. Carter Thurman led the attack with 31 assists, 10 digs and 1 kill. Matthew Takacs was the hot hand on the afternoon with 15 kills, 4 digs, 3 blocks and a service ace. Elijah Bugiardini and Tyler Carmichael followed close behind with a combined 16 kills.
When talking about the match with Knights' head coach, Steve Stone, he commended the Wolves by stating that "Algonquin was prepared and ready to compete from the start – today just wasn't our day." He continued to discuss how the Knights "came out flat and never quite found our footing to get to the level of play that we're capable of. You never want to end the season with a loss but lots of lessons learned this year and I'm still very proud of this group of guys." When continuing to discuss the men's team, Stone could not stop praising the team as he stated that "it was a fun group to coach and I know the youngsters are only going to get better. Thankful for our veterans who helped lead this group all season and competed until the very end."
This unfortunately ends the season for the Knights. The team would like to thank their fans for all their support and cheering throughout the season. We would forward to seeing everyone out at games throughout the 2024-2025 season when things kick back up in October. Visit www.goknights.ca for all information regarding your Knights.
