Kajan Thiruthanikasalam (Sports Writer, Colts Athletics)
PETERBOROUGH, ONT.- After struggling at times in Friday's win over the Canadore Panthers, Centennial Colts head coach Matthew Cheung said the women needed to be better prepared on the road against the Fleming Knights.
"Everyone's got to be ready to play," Cheung said.
Centennial (14-3) did just that, making quick work of Fleming (3-14) in straight sets (25-19, 25-13, 25-22) for their 11th straight win at the Peterborough Sport and Wellness Centre. Despite committing 12 more attack errors (21-9) and service errors (11-5), the Colts beat the Knights in kills (25-15), assists (25-14), aces (14-2), blocks (4-0), and digs (37-29).
Elizabeth Chow led all scorers with 11 points on a game high kills. Mari Pikkov had 10 on seven kills and was tied with Lizzie Bowers and Heather Sanchez with a game high three aces. Kaitlyn Hancock had a game high 11 digs while Meilin Carmichael had a game high 13 assists in the win.
Stephanie Dementjev led Fleming with six points in the loss.
Chow had three straight attack errors in the first set as Fleming took a 12-11 lead but responded with four consecutive points, three of them from kills, as that jumpstarted a 5-0 run from Centennial. The Colts then closed out the set on another 5-0 run, highlighted by a kill and ace from Pikkov and aided by three straight Knights errors, as the visitors took the first set, 25-19.
Fleming took an early 8-5 lead in the second set but a pair of aces from Pikkov sparked a massive 20-5 run from Centennial the rest of the set as they took the second set, 25-13. Bowers had all three of her aces in the second set alone and the Colts, as a team, had seven in that set.
After a very early struggle with errors in the third set, the Colts pulled away, breaking a 5-5 tie and extending their lead to as many as 10 (20-10). And although the Knights made it interesting at the end, cutting the lead down to two (24-22), a kill from Sanchez firmly ended any hopes of a comeback as Centennial took the third set, 25-22, and the match.
UP NEXT: Centennial looks to extend its program high winning streak to 12 on Wednesday Feb. 14 at 6:00pm but will face a tough challenge in the top seeded Loyalist Lancers (OCAA East), who have a 10-game winning streak. This marks the final game of the regular season.