Colts Fall Flat in Final Home Game of Season's Final Half

Timothy Ho of the Centennial Colts goes up for the kill as Joel Howes of the Fleming Knights tries to thwart his attempt during game action at the Athletic and Wellness Centre between the two teams. (Nicole Ventura/Colts Media)
Timothy Ho of the Centennial Colts goes up for the kill as Joel Howes of the Fleming Knights tries to thwart his attempt during game action at the Athletic and Wellness Centre between the two teams. (Nicole Ventura/Colts Media)

By: Teru Ikeda and Kajan Thiruthanikasalam

SCARBOROUGH, ONT. - If the women's volleyball team swept the Fleming Knights, it was the away team that brought the broom to the men's game as the Centennial Colts were defeated in straight sets at the Athletic and Wellness Centre (19-25, 21-25, 19-25).

Joel Howes led all scorers with 10 points on six kills and a game high three blocks. Spencer Bieri had a game high five aces while Dion Pearson-Laviolette led Fleming with seven digs and Colin Crain dished out a game high 15 assists.

Bryan Brown and Timothy Ho led Centennial with seven points in defeat; Brown finished with a game high seven kills.

The visiting Knights outpaced the Colts in most of the major categories: kills (22-18), assists (18-14), aces (12-6) and digs (25-23). Blocks were even at six apiece.

It did not look like Centennial was in trouble to start off as they raced off to a 10-4 lead, forcing an early Knights timeout. But Bieri's service game got the Knights and Dion Pearson-Laviolette rebounded from a slow start to the first set to lead the Fleming attack as the visitors closed out the set on a 14-4 run to take it, 25-19.

It was a back-and-forth affair in the second set until Bieri got three straight service aces, which widened the Fleming lead to 20-16. However, back-to-back kills from Brown, who had five points in the set, a block by Jordan Nnabuogor, and an error tied it at 21 apiece. But the Colts ran out of steam, giving up the last four points and falling in the second set, 25-21.

Being down 2-0 is a situation that the Colts found themselves in against the Canadore Panthers and the Knights were a weaker team in terms of season record (1-4 heading into this game). However, late game heroics didn't work today.

Centennial was up early, but a tremendous save by the Knights, when a player went to the bleachers to defend it, seemed to turn the flow of the game around. The Colts kept shooting themselves in the foot with errors and were down 17-11 at one point.

Two kills in the end by Nnabuogor and Ho made it seem like they could save themselves from being swept off their own floor as they cut it to three (22-19), but it wasn't enough as they lost the set, 25-19. 

CATCH OUR NEXT GAME

The Colts will need to regroup heading into next weekend as they head out to Ottawa to face off against the Algonquin Thunder (Nov. 24, 6:00pm) and the La Cite Coyotes (Nov. 25, 3:00pm).