Feb. 24 Niagara College report
A 3-0 (25-11, 25-16 and 25-21) sweep of the Georgian Grizzlies in Ontario Colleges Athletic Association cross-over play has advanced the Niagara College Knights women’s volleyball team to the OCAA championships.
Last year’s OCAA silver medalists were able to rest some of their starters in the victory over the Grizzlies (11-7).
“All year we’ve had a philosophy of next Knight up,” Niagara head coach Steve Dow said. “For the second weekend in a row, we’ve had starting players fighting injuries.”
Dow singled out the play of Brooke Parkes, who recorded 11 kills, a solo bock and two service aces.
“As a team, we did a pretty good job forcing Georgian to play into our teams strengths,” he said. “We forced them to play out of system and that allowed our blockers to have the advantage taking away shots and funnelling balls to our strong defenders.”
Top Niagara point scorers in the game were Parkes (14), Victoria Golebiowski (13) and Natasha Desjardins (7).
Niagara opens the OCAA championship against the unbeaten Durham College Lords (18-0) and Dow believes his team will rise to the challenge.
“We still need to show a higher level of consistency throughout the match,” he said. “We are about to go play one of the nations top teams and we will need to put our best effort forward. Durham’s a great team, but I think we match up well against them.”
The game will be played Thursday at 8:30 p.m. in North Bay.
MEN’S VOLLEYBALL
A 3-1 (23-25, 26-24, 25-9 and 25-17) victory against the George Brown Huskies in OCAA cross-over action has advanced the Niagara College men’s volleyball team to the OCAA championships in Peterborough.
Top scorers for Niagara in the match were Elijah Bugiardini (23), Samuel Otten (20), Ashton Fehr (14) and Colin Prelaz (8). Robert Zalewski contributed 49 assists and Mitchell Sawatsky led the way with 11 digs.
Niagara, 12-6 during the regular season, will play the Georgian Grizzlies (15-3) in the first round of the OCAA championship. Last year, the Knights defeated Georgian College 3-2 in the first round.
The Knights are looking for their first OCAA medal since the 2014-15 season.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Lequan Hylton, Reese Radobenko and Rahim Bardi netted 19 points each, helping the Niagara College men’s basketball team clinch a playoff spot with an 88-77 triumph over Mohawk.
Niagara finished the regular season with an 8-12 record while Mohawk fell to 13-7.
“This was an outstanding team performance in our last regular season game,” Niagara head coach Phil Mosley said. “Our team defence was very solid and the offensive contributions made by Lequan, Rahim and rookie Reese Radobenko allowed us to seal the victory.
“We came out in the second half and played with heart and intelligence to hold off a late Mohawk surge.”
Earlier in the week in its final home game of the season, the Knights dropped a 91-70 decision to the Redeemer Royals (15-5).
Top performers for Niagara were: Bardi, 20 points and seven rebounds; Hylton, 16 points, eight assists and five rebounds; and, Radobenko, 15 points.
“We were in tough tonight against a strong Redeemer squad,” Mosley said. “We needed to be solid on both ends of the floor and get major contributions from some young players who are still developing and learning the pace of college basketball.”
Niagara honoured Bardi and Hylton as part of senior’s night. Hylton played four years for Niagara and Bardi, a Governor Simcoe grad, suited up for two seasons.
Niagara will play at the George Brown Huskies (17-3) Saturday in cross-over action with the winner advancing to the OCAA championships.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
A 79-49 win over the Redeemer Royals in its final home game of the regular season has qualified the Niagara College women’s basketball team for the OCAA playoffs.
Leading the way for Niagara in the victory were: Terin Hultink, 20 points and 14 rebounds; Jessyka Maliksi, 15 points; Kaisen MacKinnon, 12 points; Beth deBoer, nine points; and, Leanne Dekorte, nine points and 15 rebounds.
Denis Morris grad Francine Smith, Heritage Christian product Dekorte and Steenika Gilbert were honoured before the game as graduating seniors.
Niagara closed out its regular season with a 4-14 record following a 88-59 loss to the Mohawk Mountaineers.
The Knights will play the Algonquin Thunder (15-1) in a crossover game Saturday at 2 p.m.
Coverage of the Niagara Knights is made possible with the support of the Niagara College Department of Athletics & Recreation. For more information, please visit www.goknights.ca
