Date: February 8, 2008
Panthers host Sheridan Bruins, but fail to keep momentum on their side
Panther Women Lose to Bruins
The Lady Panthers had a tough evening as they lost to the Sheridan Bruins on Friday night at the Education Centre Gym. The Panthers tried to battle against the Bruins, although they had one of their best games offensively, it failed to show on the scoreboard as they lost 3-1 (25-12, 25-23, 20-25 and 25-11).
“We had some of the best moments of the season during this game. We hit well and were able to mix things up to score points. We did however let points slip away at very crucial times. If we can manage to fix small mistakes and keep up the intensity tomorrow’s game should be a good end to the season,” commented middle Mallory Parent. Once again, Mallory was one of the scoring leaders for the squad, scoring 9 points.
“The girls played one of their best games all year. They made great plays at critical times. A lot of momentum was gained during the third set unfortunately they fell short in the fourth,” stated a more pleased head coach Joey Rainer.
In scoring the Panthers were led by two rookies: Kristen Verkuyl and Kayla Rose, both scoring 11 points. Kristen had 8 kills and 3 serving aces while Kayla had 9 kills and 2 serving aces. For the Bruins, they were led by Jessica Knowles, scoring 12 points total.
“This was by far one of our best games of the season. The momentum swung our way in the third set when we dominated the other team; it’s too bad we did not push ourselves to our limits in the fourth set. I can’t wait for our game against Humber to show what we’re really made of!” raved 2nd year middle, Jessica McLean who had 4 kills, and 2 stuff blocks on the night.
Panther Men run out of steam
On the men’s side the Canadore Panthers lost to the Sheridan Bruins 3-2 (25-17, 21-25, 25-23, 18-25 and 5-15). The marathon game saw the Panthers come on incredibly strong, dominating on the Bruins mental errors early, but failing to come up with a win in the end. It was a hard fought battle with many plays favouring Sheridan despite hard work from the Panther defense. Mental errors on the home team’s side were once again their downfall.
The Panthers were lead by Toby Weins, Jeremy Tremblay and Peter Clifford. Toby and Jeremy each scored 17 points each. Toby had 16 kills and 1 serving ace while Jeremy had 13 kills, 3 stuff blocks and 1 serving ace. Captain Peter Clifford had 8 kills and 2 stuff blocks for a total of 10 points. The Bruins were lead by Dave Commisso and Andrew Henry who scored 14 points in total.
From the bench, head coach Mike Smith was disappointed with tonight’s performance, “We came out flying during the first set and performed extremely well. Everyone was communicating and talking on the court. The next few sets we made some bad decisions and got down on ourselves, losing our heads and resulted in us losing the match.”
Setter, Jon Hoadley echoed his coach’s comment, “We came out flying for the first set. I felt I could set anyone and my teammates made my job feel incredibly easy. Unfortunately we were unable to keep up our momentum throughout the match. I am hoping we keep up our intensity for tomorrow’s game against Humber.”
Co-captain, and team Libero, Kyle Bourque explained why the Panthers fell short, “We had a great game going but we got gassed and our lack of preparation was reflected on the scoreboard.”
The Panthers will be hosting the Humber Hawks on Saturday, February 9 at the Education Centre gym. The women will start at 5PM with the men expected to face-off at 7PM. Come by and cheer for the Panthers at their final regular season game. Go, Panthers, go!
