By: Megan Daniels 
Reporter

It was a shaky start for the No. 6-ranked Mohawk Mountaineers women's volleyball team, but they were able to prevail to victory 3-1 (29-31, 25-18, 25-20, 25-20) over the Niagara Knights.

The Mountaineers held a small lead for the majority of the first set as the Knights hung around and eventually took the opening set. Mohawk was able to find their footing in the next three sets.

The win concluded a tough road schedule to start the season for the Mountaineers.

"Tonight's performance was a grind for us," said head coach Matthew Schnarr. "Being on the road for three road games in six nights was a tough task to start our season and we managed to pick up three wins, so it's been a great start."

"I thought our setter and libero play was our stabilizer tonight. It allowed our outside of the court to be quite offensive," Schnarr added.

Julia Watson (Burlington, ON) and Kaelyn Emslie (St. Catharines, ON) led Mohawk offensively with 12 kills each. Emslie also had 10 digs, while Sofia Spoljar (Hamilton, ON) was solid as well with 11 kills and 13 digs.  

"I thought the offensive and digging games of Kaelyn Emslie and Sofia Spoljar were important to our success," Schnarr said. "We have been looking for our left side play to get on track where they need to be and they did that tonight."

Schnarr highlighted that the team will continue to work on the small details before heading into their first home game of the season this weekend.

The Mountaineers (3-0) will host the No. 4-ranked Humber Hawks (3-0) in their home opener on Feb. 19 at 1 p.m.

At this time, no spectators will be allowed for all Mountaineer home games. Every game will be streamed on OCAA Live.