WELLAND, Ont. - The OCAA champion Nipissing University Lakers made a statement in their opening match of the 2013 Ironwood Wealth Management Group CCAA Men's Volleyball National Championship, sweeping the RSEQ Champion Outaouais Griffons in straight sets.

The set scores for the match were 25-17, 25-13, 25-21.

Throughout the match the Lakers used their height advantage and controlled the Griffons with strong defensive play and timely blocks. Lakers head coach Eric Yung commented "I think the difference today was the first eight to 10 points each set as a result of our blocking. They are a good team, but we forced them to change what they wanted to do, and kept them from building any momentum."

The Lakers entered the championship boasting the tallest team in the event, and used their athletic advantage to disrupt the smaller Griffons attack. Five Lakers players finished the match with two or more blocks.

Leading the way offensively for Nipissing was recently named CCAA All-Canadian Frankie Edgecomb. The six-foot-five middle finished the match with seven kills, two service aces, three blocks and three digs en route to being named Player of the Match.

Also having strong games for the Lakers were Tom Podstawka (six kills, seven digs), and towering middle blocker Adam Leblanc who recorded six kills, one service ace and two blocks.

With the team scheduled to play less than 24 hours after the victory Coach Yung added "it's important to remind the guys that we are here for one reason, and that's a national title."

The Lakers will face the host Niagara College Knights on Friday, March 8 at 8 p.m. The Lakers defeated the Knights at the OCAA Championship in February en route to capturing a their first ever gold medal.

NIAGARA 3, CAPILANO 2

The final match of day one at the 2013 CCAA Ironwood Wealth Management Group CCAA Men's Volleyball National Championship saw the No. 7-ranked, and host, Niagara College Knights defeat the No. 2-ranked Capilano Blues in a marathon five set match. The set scores for the match were 16-25, 25-18, 23-25, 25-23, 15-8.

The host Knights captured the victory in front of a near capacity crowd at the Welland Campus Athletic Centre, and nearly 11,000 viewers watched the game from home via internet stream at www.sportslive.ca.

Niagara College head coach Nathan Groenveld commented that the difference in the match was his team's "defensive intensity after the first set. In the set break we took a deep breath, and refocused. It's tough to play in front of home crowd that big but the guys responded well."

Leading the way offensively for Niagara College was recently named All-Canadian Shayne Petrusma. The fifth year outside hitter used his dominant service game to disrupt the Capilano game plan all match. Coach Groenveld added "Shayne's serving tonight was huge, he had eight aces, and was player of the match for us."

The Blues responded with their own All-Canadian outside hitter, in Dan Caverly. The 6-foot-1 native of Port Moody, B.C., was at times unstoppable for the Blues en route to winning the Player of the Match award for his team. Caverly finished with 13 kills and 16 digs.

Groenveld attributed the Knights strong play in sets four and five to his "middles, they were great tonight. Sam  (Youlton) had 12 kills and Millar (Galbraith) had seven."

The victory will see the Knights face the Nipissing University Lakers in their next match. The Lakers defeated the Knights in the OCAA Championship in late February.

Coach Groenveld feels that in order for his team to be successful "we have to engage defensively, and we need to serve better than we have in our previous matches with Nipissing."

All matches for the 2013 Ironwood Wealth Management Group Men's Volleyball National Championship are live broadcasted on www.sportslive.ca.

Source: Niagara College