CHARLOTTETOWN - It wasn't the colour they envisioned bringing back to Ontario when they touched down in Charlottetown, but the Niagara Knights are taking home a medal from the CCAA Men's Volleyball National Championship.

The Knights stopped their provincial rivals, the St. Clair Saints, in straight sets to capture the bronze medal at the Centre for Community Engagement.

It's the first men's volleyball medal in Niagara's history, and it came in a rematch of the OCAA final in Windsor, Ont., in March.

Once again, Knights head coach Nathan Groenveld believed his team's depth made the difference against a familiar foe.

"Our depth all year has been a huge asset for us," said Groenveld. "Our guys aren't nearly as drained as their six or seven guys. We have guys who get to take a breather, and we have guys who can come off the bench and add to it.

"We were fresh at the end of the year, which is what we wanted to do, so it's a huge advantage."

Brett Polfuss (Kitchener, Ont.) was Niagara's player of the game with six kills, four service aces and three digs, while Cole Jordan (London, Ont.) paced the Knights attack with 13 kills, along with three digs.

Getting the school's first medal in men's volleyball is significant, Polfuss said.

"It's fantastic," he said. "It obviously goes to show that Niagara's program has really come a long way in the last few years, and will probably be a contender for the next while."

Polfuss also partially attributed the team's success to the quality of play in Ontario.

"It's very competitive out there, especially in the West," he said of the conference. "It's really hard to get wins off teams. You have to bring your A-game every time, and I think that comes into this tournament, because everybody's used to playing against good teams."

Niagara also got strong defence throughout the lineup, with Steve Stone (St. Catharines, Ont.) and libero Bailey Cochrane (Barrie, Ont.) going down for 10 digs apiece, with Stone also adding 34 assists.

CCAA all-Canadian Jason Hernandez (Harrow, Ont.) got the nod for St. Clair's player of the game in his final college volleyball match, leading the Saints with 10 kills and adding five digs.

Connor West (Lethbridge, Alta.) supplemented the Saints attack with eight kills, four digs and a solo block, while Manik Jandoria (Windsor, Ont.) had six kills, four digs and a blocked shot.

The provincial rivals traded points early in the first set, though the Saints put together a nice run to pull ahead 14-10. However, the Knights didn't throw in the towel at any point, even when St. Clair pushed its lead to 23-20. Niagara came back with the final five points of the set to take the opener 25-23.

Polfuss saw Niagara's comeback in the set as an early turning point in the match.

"First sets have never really been our strong point throughout the season, but we were able to pull together earlier on in this match than other ones and just run with it," he said. We kept our foot on the gas pedal, and it worked out to our advantage."

After another tight opening to the second set, the Knights started to find some consistency and built up a 10-6 early in the frame. St. Clair kept plugging away at the Knights, cutting Niagara's lead to just two on five separate occasions. However, they couldn't get to back to level footing, and the Knights closed out the second by a 25-21 score line.

In what became a hallmark for the Knights, Niagara got a good jump in the final set, opening up a 5-1 lead early. The Saints came back and cut the lead to one point twice, but the Knights found their closing gear, finishing off the match with an 11-2 run to once again claim supremacy in Ontario, and win a national bronze medal in the process.

Groenveld is looking forward to having his returning players help the program's evolution.

"You can talk about it as much as you want, but you actually have to get in there and get your hands dirty to be able to do it," he said. "I just think the maturity our guys showed this year, the guys who come back understand now, from September, and even from April in our offseason program, everything does add up, and as long as you keep progressing through it, it will eventually get you there."

Championship Website: www.ccaa.ca/national-championship-s15090

Championship Webcast: sportscanada.tv/ccaa/index.php/volleyball/2015mvb

Source: Holland College