WINDSOR, Ont. - The Niagara Knights won the OCAA gold medal after defeating the St. Clair Saints 3-1 at the OCAA Men's Volleyball Championship Sunday evening at the SportsPlex. The Saints drew first blood by winning the first set by a score of 26-24. That set win, however, would be the only one for them in the match as Niagara won three straight set en route to the gold medal sweeping the next three 25-19, 25-17 and 26-24.
"We needed to have a team effort and we had veterans coming off the bench and helping out the younger players," said Niagara coach Nathan Groenveld. "We knew we had to weather the storm and we did that well."
"We broke down late in each set loss but I'm proud of the way our guys played all weekend," said St. Clair coach Robert Lynch. "This season we've gone through adversity with injuries and we battled through everything."
Fourth-year setter Steve Stone (St. Catharines, Ont.) took home tournament MVP honours and was Niagara's player of the game with 42 assists and six digs in the Knights gold medal victory. Third-year outside hitter Jeff Scott (Georgetown, Ont.) contributed to the win with 15 Kills, 11 digs and a service ace. Fifth-year middle hitter Peter Christian (Chatham, Ont.) was the Saints player of the game contributing eight kills, one stuffed block and a service ace in the silver medal effort.
St. Clair started the tournament by defeating Durham 3-1 Friday evening advancing to the semi-finals defeating Humber 3-1 Saturday evening. Despite the loss, the silver is St. Clair's first-ever OCAA medal in its history.
Niagara kicked off the tournament with an upset victory against Mohawk 3-2 Friday afternoon. The Knights continued the winning trend when they won against Fanshawe in the semi-finals Saturday evening 3-1. This is Niagara's fourth gold medal win in its history with its last one in 2004.
The tournament all-stars were Mohawk's Charlie Hancock (North Bay, Ont.) and Eric Danecke (Kitchener, Ont.); Niagara's Bailey Cochrane (Barrie, Ont.) and Scott; and St. Clair's Jason Hernandez (Harrow, Ont.) and Josh Rankin (Windsor, Ont.).
Both St. Clair and Niagara will participate in the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Men's Volleyball National Championship in Charlottetown from March 12-14.
Source: St. Clair College