January 22, 2026 

ETOBICOKE, ONT: The Niagara College men's volleyball team (6-6) travelled up the highway to take on the Humber Hawks (8-4) for a Wednesday night match.  Unfortunately, the Knights could not build off their early lead, losing 3-1 to the Hawks (set scores were 25-20, 16-25, 21-25 and 23-25). 

The Knights came out on fire to start the game, taking an early lead over the Hawks, as they were able to guide their way to a 5-point set victory – leading by 10 points multiple times throughout the set.  The happy faces for Niagara quickly became serious as Humber came into the 2nd set, determined to square the match up.  Trading points back and forth to begin the set, the Hawks were able to edge out an early lead that they would refuse to give up.  Heading into the pivotal third set, tied at one set each, Niagara continued to apply pressure to the Hawks as neither team wanted to relinquish control.  Long rallies and maximum effort were staples in this set for both teams, with the Hawks taking the 2-1 set lead in the end.  The 4th set had both teams trading blows as the lead would swap back and forth continuously.  Tied at 22, the Knights just couldn't make some key plays down the stretch as Humber was able to walk away with the 3-1 victory.   Jack Drummond led the charge for the Knights with 16 points on 15 kills, 5 digs and 1 service ace.  Sam Pynn trailed closely behind with 12 points of his own on 11 kills, 2 digs, 2 assists and 1 service ace.  Taiten Stifter once again commanded the offence, adding in 29 assists and 8 digs on the stat sheet. 

"The guys played a great game and I'm really happy with the compete level," said Steve Stone, head coach of the Niagara Knights.  Stone continued to say that the team "showed some inexperience in clutch moments and didn't execute at important moments.  Lots of good takeaways from this game that we can move forward with though." 

Niagara will take a few days before getting ready for the Redeemer Royals (5-6) on Wednesday, January 28th – the game is set to start at 8pm at the Simplii Financial Athletic Center at the Welland Campus.  If you aren't able to catch the action in person, be sure to tune into OCAA Live so you don't miss a thing. 

For more information on the Knights' teams, please visit us at www.goknights.ca.