Date: January 19, 2008
Panthers take on Falcons
On Saturday, January 19, the Canadore College Panthers hosted the Fanshawe Falcons in OCAA varsity volleyball action. The women’s game started at 5PM and the men’s game followed at 7PM.
The Lady Panthers were overwhelmed by the dominant Falcons losing 3-0: 25-12, 25-14 and 25-16. The Falcons offence was led by Katie Seys with 16 points: 15 kills and 1 serving ace. On the Panthers side of the court, they were led by Kayla Rose and Kristen Verkuyl scoring 6 and 5 points respectively.
Head coach Joey Rainer was disappointed with today’s performance: “Right from the beginning the girl’s hearts were not in the game. We will have to refocus this week at practice to prepare for next weekend.”
“We need to learn to get our heads in the game, and read each team as they come,” stated veteran setter, Sophie Rocheleau. Another Lady Panther expressed similar sentiments about today’s game: “Warm up was slow and it really showed in the game. We’ve reached the point in the season where we need to find alternative ways to mentally prepare for games and boost each other’s energy,” said middle Mallory Parent.
The ladies have a hard week of practice ahead of them as they will be going down to Hamilton to face Mohawk on January 25.
On the men’s side, the Panthers were unable to complete a full winning set. They battled hard against the Falcons and were able to generate offense but not enough to come away with a victory, losing the game 3-0 (30-28, 25-21 and 25-21). The close game was exciting to watch and was a personal best for the team this season, as they managed many times to rally back against the Falcons.
The Falcons were led by Teddy Bowcock scoring a total of 12 points: 8 kills, 1 stuff block and 3 serving aces. On the Panthers side of the court, they were led by Jeremy Tremblay, scoring 14 points: 11 kills and 3 serving aces. Captain Peter Clifford was a man of few words after the game, “You get what you give,” he stated after scoring 11 points on the night with 9 kills and 2 stuff blocks.
Rookie right side Alex Harriman, who had a kill and stuff block for the night was more positive about the night, “We played well. We could have made some smarter placement choices and passes. We definitely need to talk more on the court, but it was a good game.”
Head coach, Mike Smith said, “We have the potential to play with the best teams in the OCAA. I’m happy with the outcome of this game. We gave it a good run.”
The men’s team will also be traveling to Hamilton on Friday, January 25 to face off against the Mohawk Mountaineers.
Down the road, the Panthers have home court advantage for the remainder of the season. They will be hosting Nipissing Lakers for part two of “Battle of the Bay” on Thursday, January 31, and their last home games of the season will be February 8 and 9. All games will be played at the Education Centre Gym.
