February 3, 2020, WELLAND – The Niagara Knights men's volleyball team is now winless in three after back-to-back losses to the Humber Hawks and Fanshawe Falcons.
The no. 1 Hawks soared to a 3-0 (15-25, 15-25, 22-25) sweep of the Knights Thursday night in Niagara, extending their winning streak to 14 games and six consecutive sweeps.
Humber set the tone early in the first set, showing Niagara why they currently sit first in the OCAA West and quickly cruising to two 25-15 wins to go up 2-0.
The Knights rallied in the third, forcing the Hawks to make a come from behind run to over power the Knights and put them away for good, 25-22.
Saturday's road trip to London did not fare well for the Knights either after the (7-8) Falcons pulled off the upset to defeat the fourth place Knights 4-1 (22-25, 26-24, 22-25, 17-25).
The Falcons went on a run early going up 12-6 in the opening set, leaving the Knights to claw their way back into the game eventually coming within two of Fanshawe's lead. The Falcons were able to hold on to go up 1-0 with a 25-22 set win.
Set two saw the Knights come to life as both the Knights and Falcons battled it out point-for-point through the game, with Niagara coming out on top to tie things up at one-a-piece.
Riding the momentum from their set two win, the Knights were hoping to pull ahead in set three, but the Falcons had other plans taking both set three and four to down the Knights 3-1.
"As a group, we recognize that we're in a bit of a slump right now and we are working hard to find that consistent level of play that we experienced in the first half of the season," said head coach Tommy Sloan. "Our execution was just a little off and we've been susceptible to giving up serving runs lately. We're looking forward to a productive week of practice leading into our match against Redeemer."
The Knights are now winless in their last three matches dating back to January 22's 3-2 loss to Conestoga.
With just four regular season games left on the schedule, Niagara, now 8-5, will look to regain momentum in the win column in Thursday night's battle at home to the visiting Redeemer Royals (10-5). Game time is set for 6:00 P.M.
