Men’s volleyball: Undefeated Fanshawe downs Conestoga 3-0

Conestoga’s men’s volleyball team lost their first game of 2019 on Jan. 17, losing to the Fanshawe Falcons in straight sets.

The Falcons won the first set 25-16. Conestoga stepped up its game in the second set, but the Falcons still took it 25-20.

The Condors looked to have had the third set won with a 24-22 lead, but Fanshawe was able to mount a comeback and win 28-26 to secure the game.

With the win, Fanshawe moves into first place in the OCAA Western Division with 22 points and an undefeated record of 11-0. The loss keeps Conestoga in fifth place with 12 points and a record of 6-5.

Conestoga head coach Wayne Harris thought his team was able to rebound from a slow start to make the last two sets more competitive with Fanshawe.

“They were clearly the better team in the first set,” he said. “We slowly made adjustments so that, in the second set, we were competing better.”

“We should’ve won that third set. We had a nice lead [and] just needed to put one ball on the floor and we didn’t do it.”

Harris talked about what improvements he’d like to see from the Condors when they face Humber College, another top team in the Western Division, on Jan. 20.

“I’d like to see us start passing better,” he said. “They broke us down with their heavy serves in the first set, so we’d like to start with better passing and then attack them like we attacked in sets two and three.”

Condors libero Keon Merkle also talked about what his team needs to do in order to compete with a team like Humber.

“[If we can play] like we did in the third set, we turned it around and forced them to a close game,” he said. “If we [do that] we can play with Humber as well.”

Fanshawe’s head coach, Patrick Johnston, addressed how his team looks at their impressive record this season.

“We don’t think too much about the record,” he said. “We just come, and as cliché as it is, take it one game at a time. Conestoga’s one hell of a team with some great athletes, so we’re just happy to get this one.”

The Condors’ next game is at home on Jan. 20 against Humber College.

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