Wednesday, December 4th saw the Niagara College women's volleyball program lose a hard fought five-set match to the Conestoga Condors. The loss drops the Knights to 4-5 heading into the mid-season break, and sees the team move into a tie for fifth place in the competitive OCAA West Division.
The set scores for Wednesday's match were 25-15, 25-21, 21-25, 23-25, 15-10.
Niagara College women's volleyball head coach Joey Martins felt that his team's "slow starts" proved to be the difference in the match.
The Knights came out flat to open the contest, trailing two sets to none before finding their rhythm. The team rebounded in sets three and four, before trailing 4-0 to open the fifth and final frame. Coach Martins continued "we battled back in the fifth, but it was just too far to come from behind."
Leading the way offensively for Niagara was veteran middle blocker Alex Botelho. The six-foot native of Stoney Creek finished with 14 points on 10 kills, three blocks and a service ace. Botelho serves as the Knights' team captain, and is currently enrolled in the Recreation and Leisure Services program.
The Knights will now have a full month of rest before returning to the court in 2014 for the annual Durham College Invitational women's volleyball tournament on January 3rd.
The team will resume OCAA league play on Wednesday, January 8th when they visit the Sheridan Bruins.
For archived broadcasts of all Niagara College women's volleyball home matches please visit www.ocaatv.com.
