February 3, 2020, WELLAND – The Niagara Knights women's volleyball team fell to fifth place in the OCAA West after two losses to Humber and Fanshawe.
Thursday's night loss at home did not come without excitement, as both teams battled point-for-point in a five set match that ultimately ended in the Hawk's favour.
The Knights created a battle for Humber from the get-go, staying within an arm's reach of the Hawks throughout the first and second set. With the Knights unable to take over the lead, the Hawks finalized the first and second set at 25-23 and 25-19.
Both teams continued to battle up the scoreboard at the Welland Campus Centre gymnasium as the crowed became electric as the Knights clawed their way back in to take sets three and four at 24-26 and 23-25 to force a deciding fifth set.
The Hawks got off to a quick lead in the final set forcing head coach Steve Dow to call a timeout at Humber's 5-1 lead. Dow's timeout call seemed to work, as the Knights went on a run of their own to even things up at 5-5. Neither team willing to give an inch, both teams remained controlled as the energy in the gym grew. Humber eventually would take over the lead, and go on to win set five 15-9 to earn a 3-2 win.
Looking to rebound on Saturday's game in London, the Knights had their work cut out for them with the nationally ranked (third) Fanshawe Falcons (14-1).
The Falcons came out swinging, showing why they are currently no. 1 in the OCAA West and climbing the CCAA ranks, completing a 3-0 sweep of the Niagara.
"I thought we started off the match well," said Dow. "We were up early and capitalizing on Fanshawe's mistakes. With that being said, Fanshawe is too strong of a team to try to win solely off their mistakes. They have a number of strong players but when you are up against the best player in the country, you know sooner or later they will score and score in bunches. Unfortunately, we started making mistakes and couldn't stop their runs. They simply out worked us in almost every phase of the game. We have played the top three teams in our division over our last four games, and look back to getting into practices where we can fix some of the holes they exposed."
Both losses drop the Knights to 8-6 with just four games remaining in the regular season. Niagara will play host to Redeemer College (7-8) Thursday night before hitting the road again Sunday at Sheridan (7-8).
