February 17, 2024
BELLEVILLE, ONT:, The Niagara College women's volleyball team took to the road over the weekend to take on the East's 2nd place team, the Loyalist Lancers. The Knights started strong, but unfortunately left with a 3-1 loss to the Lancers (Set scores were 25-22, 29-31, 18-25 and 16-25).
The loss puts an end to the Knights' playoff run as they take a quarter-final exit. Sophia Matias led the offensive charge for the Knights putting up 11 kills, 8 digs, 1 block and 1 service ace. Sam Cormier controlled the middle of the net majority of the afternoon by contributing 7 kills, 6 blocks and 2 digs. Hannah Cowie and Montanna Taylor each had 4 kills, with Taylor also contributing 18 assists, 9 digs and 2 service aces.
Back at the helm, head coach of the Knights, Steve Stone could not speaking of the good things about the team. His first statement after the match was "I'm so proud of these girls and what they accomplished this year. We have a young team with a lot of rookies who started and contributed at a high level all year – I know we're going to be even better next year with all of this experience gained." Stone continued to discuss the match by saying "That's a good team in Loyalist, so congratulations to them. Our girls were prepared and ready as they took it to Loyalist in the first set. The second set, to have that many opportunities to close that set it's disappointing for sure but we felt like we were in a good place still. In the end, I think we got a bit tentative and didn't go try to win the game like we needed to." When reflecting back on the season Stone has had with the team, he expressed that "although it's not the end we were hoping for, these girls did an amazing job overcoming adversity this year and staying dedicated to the goal and working together. The time and effort the girls put in all year shows with their improvement and growth over the course of the season. It was an absolutely honor to be their coach and I loved going to battle with this group."
With the unfortunate early exit, it will draw an end to the season for the Knights. The team would like to thank their fans for all their support and cheering throughout the season. We would forward to seeing everyone out at games throughout the 2024-2025 season when things kick back up in October. Visit www.goknights.ca for all information regarding your Knights.
