The Niagara College women's volleyball (15-3, West) program is headed to Ancaster, Ontario to participate in the 2014-15 OCAA Championship. Niagara's first match will be on Thursday, February 26th against the Cambrian Golden Shield (8-10, 6th West).
After back-to-back sub .500 regular season records, the Knights are back in the OCAA Championship and looking to win their first medal since earning silver in 2003. Niagara is currently on a nine game win-streak and the Knights are determined to extend the streak to 12 straight.
The outstanding regular season led to three Knights receiving OCAA All-Star recognition for their dominant performances. Fifth year outside hitter Lucy McLay (Stratford) was named a first team all-star, third year middle blocker Nicole Schoonderwoerd (Tavistock) was named a second team all-star, and first year setter Bailey Davis (Georgetown) was named to the all-rookie team.
Playing Cambrian in game one, Niagara is getting an opponent they are quite familiar with. The Knights swept the series during the regular season; however the last match-up between these two programs was highly contested. Niagara won in five sets in come-from-behind fashion, with set scores of 19-25, 25-21, 18-25, 25-22, 15-13. Lucy McLay and Linnea Davis (Brampton) led the Knights with 14 points each, while Cambrian's Hayley Chisholm had a game-high 16 points.
|
Team |
Kills Per Set |
Hitting % |
Assists Per Set |
Blocks Per Set |
Service Aces Per Set |
Digs Per Set |
|
Niagara |
9.94 |
.352 |
9.25 |
2.24 |
2.91 |
14.72 |
|
Cambrian |
9.01 |
.297 |
7.90 |
1.51 |
2.14 |
16.14 |
The last time Niagara played in the OCAA Championship (2011-12), their first round match-up was against Cambrian College as well. That season, the Golden Shield were in the OCAA east conference and finished the regular season with an impressive 19-1. The Knights were able to win the first set but ultimately fell 3-1 to the eventually silver medal winners. In her first season with the Knights, Nicole Schoonderwoerd led the Knights with a game-high 14 points in the loss. Niagara's setter Ava Sarkis (Welland) was named player of the game for Niagara.
For more information regarding the 2014-15 OCAA women's volleyball championship, please click here.
If you are interested in watching any of the 2014-15 OCAA women's volleyball championship, please click here for a link to the live stream.
