A January 25th trip to London, proved to be a tough one for the Niagara College Knights, as all four active intercollegiate sport programs suffered losses to their hosts the Fanshawe Falcons. The Falcons hosted a rare quadruple header in OCAA West Division action on Saturday, and came away with eight critical points in the standings.
Women's volleyball opened the action at 2:00pm. Heading into the matchup, the Knights were in search of a victory to remain in the west division playoff race. The Falcons (13-1) however, showed why they are one of the top teams in the province defeating the Knights three sets to one. The set scores in the contest were 25-18, 25-16, 22-25, 25-12.
After the match Knights head coach joey Martins commented "player for player they are a more experienced, and taller team. It was after 18 points in each set that they took over. It comes down to nerves and experience at that point and they came out on top."
In men's volleyball action, the CCAA's #6 ranked Knights faced off with the #8 ranked Falcons. The Knights suffered their third consecutive loss, losing three sets to one. The set scores for the contest were 25-15, 27-29, 25-21, 25-23.
After the match, Knights men's volleyball head coach Nathan Groenveld commented "Fanshawe put us under some pressure and we struggled with that all afternoon. As of late we have gotten away from focusing on each point and have started focusing on results. As a process oriented team and program, we will adjust this and get back to business."
The women's basketball game tipped off at 6:00pm, and again featured two of the top teams in the OCAA. The Falcons (9-4) defeated the Knights (8-5) 59-43 in the contest. The difference proved to be the two teams' turnover numbers, as the Falcons turned the ball over just 15 times, versus 32 by the Knights.
Niagara College women's basketball head coach Mike Beccaria felt the Falcons were "simply better than us in all phases of the game tonight." The Knights were without leading scorer Tara Giallonardo who is out of the lineup nursing a knee injury.
The Niagara College men's basketball program headed to London in search of the first victory of the season. The fourth-place Falcons (8-5) simply proved too much for the young Knights emerging with a hard fought 79-73 victory.
Newcomer Ryan Christie (Hamilton, ON) gave the Knights his best performance since joining the team at the mid-season break. The six-foot-eight center finished with 21 points, 17 rebounds, and five steals.
All four Niagara College intercollegiate sport programs will return to action this week at the Welland Campus Athletic Centre. The men's and women's volleyball programs will host the Redeemer Royals on Wednesday, January 29th, with action getting underway at 6:00pm.
While the men's and women's basketball programs will host the Lambton Lions on Friday, January 31st. The basketball games will serve as part of the first annual Niagara College Knights Grad Night. At halftime of the women's basketball game, graduating student-athletes from the men's and women's soccer, and golf teams will be honoured and presented with a gift courtesy of the Niagara College Department of Athletics & Recreation.
