Sunday, February 22nd saw the Niagara College women's volleyball program wrap up their 2014-15 home court season in style with an impressive three-set playoff victory over the visiting Algonquin Thunder. The set scores in the contest were 25-23, 26-24, 25-22.
In front of the largest crowd of the season, the Knights controlled the entire match, showing the loud and partisan home crowd why the team entered the postseason with the second best record in the province.
"We did what we needed to do, and we took care of business" said Niagara College women's volleyball head coach Joey Martins. "We had a great crowd today, and the environment was fantastic for playoff volleyball."
The Knights were led by fifth-year outside hitter Lucy McLay (Stratford). The five-foot-eleven public relations student, continued here season-long dominance finishing with 10 kills on just 18 attempts, two blocks, and a service ace.
Martins continued "Algonquin really came to play. They battled all match, but our entire team found ways to score points today, particularly our net defense and service game."
The Knights finished with 12 service aces in the contest. Veteran middle blocker Nicole Schoonderwoerd (Tavistock) provided the Knights with a spark in the second set. With the team trailing 22-18, the six-foot personal support worker student rattled off five straight serves to get the Knights back into the set. Schoonderwoerd finished with five kills, four aces, and three stuff blocks.
The Knights also out blocked the Thunder 11-5 in the match. Alexandria Botelho (Stoney Creek), the other half of the Knights' middle blocker tandem, also finished with three blocks, while also adding seven kills and an ace.
Rounding out the stat sheet for the Knights was Madison Morgan (Whitby) and Linnea Davis (Brampton) who finished with 10 points each, while setter Bailey Davis (Georgetown) recorded 31 assists and four aces.
The win sees the Knights advance to the OCAA Championship being hosted by Redeemer University College from February 26-28. The Knights' opening game opponent will be the Cambrian Golden Shield on February 26th at 3:00pm.
The Knights won both matches between the two teams this season, the latest coming in the form of a five-set marathon victory on January 31st.
For all information regarding the Niagara Knights women's volleyball program please visit www.goknights.ca. For information about the 2015 OCAA women's volleyball championship please visit http://www.redeemerroyals.ca/sports/2015/1/7/GEN_0107154404.aspx
