SHERIDAN 3, NIAGARA 1 (FINAL)

OAKVILLE, Ont. - A week removed from finding themselves officially in the post-season after a five-set loss to Fanshawe, the Sheridan Bruins men's volleyball team (20-12, 9-7 OCAA) got back in the win column with a 3-1 triumph over Niagara.

"We played really well. All week we had been focussing on passing and serving and it translated really well tonight," assistant coach Sean Panchal said. "That doesn't always happen with our team but I'm glad we served well, passed well and it led to victory."

After struggling to find consistency in the early stages, the home side started to take control of the set mid-way through the frame while trailing 15-14.

They reeled off eight straight points and won the set 25-16, closing on a 10-1 run.

The double-blue used another big run - this time 9-1 in the middle of the set - pull away and wound up winning the second set 25-14.

Niagara was able to extend the match to a fourth set, when Sheridan could not pull off the same feat that they did in the first two, falling 25-19.

However once they got to that fourth set, the Bruins took early leads of 5-0, 10-2 and 14-4, that allowed them to weather a 6-1 run from Niagara and cruised to a 25-18 win.

Jeremy Fantin had a match-high 18 points (11 kills, seven blocks), while Josh Butler (15 kills, two blocks) and Bruno Leite (three kills, seven blocks) were also in double figures.

The team has a quick turnaround, travelling to Humber on February 10 and then closes out the regular season at home against Redeemer on February 15.
Panchal says that the coaching staff already knowns what they need to work on going into elimination games and it starts with focusing on each match as it happens."

"We need to do a lot of game management - to take care of the points that we can take care of and not play outside our heads," he said. "A lot of guys tend to do things that they can't do, but we just need to play within ourselves. We just need to take it one game at a time and hopefully the rest takes care of itself."

Blue notes: Fantin's seven blocks was a career high for the freshman and brings his season total to 36, the second highest single-season total in team history. Andrew Henry - third on the OCAA all-time blocks list at the beginning of the season - set the team record with 58 last year.

Source: Sheridan I.T.