November 11th, 2019 ... WELLAND - The Niagara College women's volleyball team battled back from a 2-0 deficit to force friday night's match into five games, ultimately dropping the fifth and deciding set 10-15 to give Mohawk the 3-2 (19-25,18-25, 52-19,25-21, 15-10) win at home.
Mohawk got out to the early lead capturing wins in the first two sets to go into the third with a 2-0 lead.
The Knights rallied back, taking the third and fourth set to force a deciding fifth set, where they ultimately fell 10-15.
"Tonight we genuinely got outplayed for a majority of the match," said head coach Steve Dow. "Mohawk showed up on time and put us behind early in the first two sets. We showed a lot of resilience fighting back to win set three and four but it ultimately came down to the team that played more consistently for longer stretches of time."
The Knights were led by second-year libero Madelyn Berg (St. Catharines) who came up with a whopping 35 digs to allow her team to claw back into th match.
Knights veteran hitter Natasha Desjardins (3rd year, Welland) led the Knights with 17 kills, and 20 digs.
Despite the loss, Dow knows there is still lots of room for improvement.
"We are still making too many errors and especially at the wrong times but with a young team under a new coach with the new system I remind myself it's still early in the year and there are a ton of positives to be excited about moving forward," said Dow. "One thing I do know is will have a good week of practice and use our home court advantage with our great fans and give Sheridan a tough match on Friday. "
The loss puts the Knights at 3-2 on the season with a game at hand this Friday night at home when the Sheridan Bruins (1-3) roll into town.
This weekend's games will be the Niagara College Athletics and Recreation department's United Way campaign, where proceeds from ticket sales will go directly back to United Way.