Niagara College Knights out duel Canadore Panthers

The Canadore Panther Women’s Volleyball team opened their season Friday night with loss to the Niagara College Knights. The Knights defeated the Panthers in three straight sets (25-15, 25-16, and 25-11). The Panther’s are led by team co-captains Sophie Rocheleau and Chrissy Van Amelsfoort. “We went in to tonight’s game having set both individual and team goals. We may have lost the game but we each achieved our goal. I was very happy with how we played,” Rocheleau commented.

For Van Amelsfoort, this was her first OCAA game.

“The experience was amazing," Van Amelsfoort said.

"Our team chemistry is great, we can only get better from here.”

The Panther’s had an early start to their competitive season this year. Last year, the Panther’s first home game was Nov 7th.

“I am very pleased with how the women played tonight," said Panthers coach Diane Clarke.

"They have shown incredible improvement over the last few weeks. They will only get better as they get more comfortable playing with each other.”

The Lady Panther’s next competition is an exhibition tournament at Sheridan College next weekend.

In Men’s action, the Knights also defeated the Panther’s three straight (25-16, 25-13, and 28-26).

“Our execution was better as the game went on," said Panther head coach Craig Ash.

"We need to work on coming out strong from the first point.”

The Panther’s came up short in the third set after having tied the set at 24.

“Now that we have our first game under our belts, we need to focus on our passing and finishing,” commented Panther co-captain Brandon Vingerhoeds.

Andre Guindon, co-captain, led the Panther attack with a total of 7 offensive points (6 kills, 1 stuff block).

“Our first league game has shown us that we can compete with every team in the league; we now know what we need to focus on in practice,” Guindon stated.

Kyle Akins was the Knights leading scorer with 15 offensive points.

Submitted to BayToday.ca