Dec. 4 Niagara College Sports Report
The Niagara College Knights women’s volleyball team split a pair of matches last week falling 3-0 to Humber (12-25, 17-25 and 11-25) and recording a 3-0 (25-18, 25-17 and 25-14) sweep of Fanshawe.
Leading the way for Niagara against Humber were: Rachael Bickford with eight assists and three digs; Montanna Taylor with 17 attacks, five aces, five kills, five assists, a block and seven digs; and, Hannah Cowie with five kills and a block.
“It was a valuable learning experience for us going up against the undefeated powerhouse, Humber Hawks. We learned a lot about our ability to face adversity, show resilience as a team and the importance of never giving up,” Niagara head coach Elaine Pilgrim-Susi said. “We will use this opportunity to refine our skills and come back stronger when we face them again in the new year. There are still a lot of games to be played in the season and we are looking forward to the successes that lie ahead.”
Taylor was named player of the game.
“Montanna showed fierce competitiveness in our game against Humber,” she said.
Performing well for Niagara against Fanshawe were: Tess Kelly with eight kills, an assist, a block and seven digs; Taylor with 26 assists, five kills, six digs and two blocks; and, Hope Nicholson with 10 kills and nine digs.
“I am extremely proud of how our team approached today’s game, confident and ready to win. We established our middles early and dominated at the net. Improving our serving and serve receive were our focus for today and we were successful in both areas,” Pilgrim-Susi said. “We head into the holidays with a 7-4 record and I know we will continue to build on our success in the new year. Tess Kelly showed great tenacity at the net, made some smart plays at key moments, and was a strong server making her our player of the game.”
Taylor was named Niagara’s female athlete of the week with a combined 31 assists, 13 kills, 13 digs and three blocks against Humber and Fanshawe. The Eden product surpassed 1,000 career assists during the game against Fanshawe.
MEN’S VOLLEYBALL
Niagara’s men’s volleyball team (7-4) had a winless week dropping a 3-0 decision (22-25, 24-26 and 14-25) to Humber and losing 3-1 (18-25, 25-13, 21-25 and 21-25) versus Fanshawe.
Playing well for Niagara against Humber were: Carter Thurman with 17 assists, seven digs and a service ace; and, Tyler Carmichael, Liam Marchetti and Micah Nieuwets with six kills each.
Leading the way for Niagara against Fanshawe were: Thurman with 29 assists, a kill, 11 digs and a block; Nieuwets with 13 kills, eight digs, an assist and a block; and, Elijah Bugiardini with eight kills and seven digs.
Nieuwets was named Niagara College’s male athlete of the week after combining for 19 kills, 13 digs, two blocks and an assist against Humber and Fanshawe last week. He also showed great leadership on and off the court.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Denis Morris grad Lexxus Bell had 20 points, 10 rebounds and a blocked shot but it wasn’t enough as the Niagara women’s basketball team dropped a 70-57 decision to the St. Clair Saints.
“Credit to St. Clair, they’re a good basketball team. I think we played three pretty good quarters but we just let them do too much of what they wanted in the second quarter and their lead got stretched to 20,” Niagara head coach Chris Rao said. “I’m proud of our effort and execution in the third quarter, especially to get us back in that game, but just a lesson that winning games is hard enough and it is even harder if you spot teams a bunch of points in a quarter.”
Also playing well for the Knights were: Molly Taylor with 13 points, seven rebounds and a block; Jamira Rousseau with seven points; Taryn Mitchell with six points and 10 rebounds; and, Griffin Lack-Shane with six points and five rebounds.
Niagara enters the Christmas break with a 6-3 record.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Niagara men’s basketball team ended the first half of the season on a high by defeating St. Clair 83-66.
Niagara climbed to 6-4 with the win while St. Clair fell to 8-2 with the setback
“A complete team effort in this statement win over the No. 1 team in the province. So proud of our guys’ defensive effort holding St Clair to 66. We had outstanding performances from Mark Taylor and Riley Bleich who were our leading scorers with 13 points,” head coach Phil Mosley said. “Khayden Stewart also had a strong two-way game with nine points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals. We will head into the break on a positive note and prepare for a very tough and competitive second half of the season.”
