November 21, 2025
ANCASTER, ONT: The Niagara College women's volleyball team (5-3) headed up the QEW for a short trip to take on the Redeemer Royals (4-2) in a Friday night matchup. A week after their 2nd loss of the season, the Knights weren't able to pull off the reverse sweep in this 5-set thriller as Redeemer was just too strong in the end (set scores were 14-25, 22-25, 25-23, 25-19, 8-15).
The Knights were looking to stop their losing streak in this matchup against the Royals as they started off on the right foot, taking an early lead. Redeemer on the other hand had other plans as they fought back to take a commanding lead in the middle of the set – one they would not look back from, taking a 9-point 1st set win. The 2nd set saw the Knights taking an early lead that they would hold onto until the late points of the set before Redeemer was able to claw back once again to take a 2-0 set lead. On the brink of losing, Niagara took a collective breath and decided they weren't done yet – winning a closely contested 3rd set, as well as an overpowering 4th set, pushing the Royals to a deciding 5th set. Alas, it was just not meant to be for the Knights on this evening as Redeemer was able to put Niagara on their heels early in the 5th set and come out victorious. Sam Cormier once again led the Knights' attack posting a team-high 18 points on 12 kills, while also contributing 6 digs, 4 blocks and 2 aces. Abbey Gooder found her offensive prowess as she added 15 points on 13 kills, 14 digs and 2 aces. All while Tess Kelly, Keira Virostek and Laryssa Schipper combined for 26 points, 11 digs, 7 assists, 3 blocks and 1 ace in the loss.
"The ladies showed a lot of grit and fight battling back to force a fifth set," Steve Stone, head coach of the Niagara Knights began to say. Stone continued to describe how the team "has to execute and fight earlier on so we (the team) don't dig ourselves a hole and find ourselves in tough situations like that."
The Knights must have a short memory as they need to prepare for a mid-week matchup with the Mohawk Mountaineers (1-4) on Wednesday, November 26th, hoping to get back into the win column before the winter break. This game is set to take place at the Simplii Financial Athletic Centre at the Welland Campus, beginning at 6pm. Can't make it in person? Catch all the action on OCAA Live to keep cheering on your Knights.
For more information on the Knights' teams, please visit us at www.goknights.ca.
