Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Staff
The NDSS Golden Hawks’ junior boys volleyball team took out the Frontenac Falcons in four sets on Tuesday to push their record to a perfect 3-0 in KASSAA play.
At home on Thursday they went to the brink with the Holy Cross Crusaders before clinching the decisive fifth set. They had opened the season on Sept. 19 with a three set sweep swept LCVI.
Their strong start isn’t just confined to league play either as they finished second in a tournament they hosted over the weekend.
It has been an opposite story for the senior team however, as they dropped a 3-0 decision at home to the Crusaders on Thursday and then were shutout in three sets at Frontenac on Tuesday.
“It’s definitely going to be a developmental year, but what a great start to the season,” Hawks head coach Jill Adern said following Thursday’s game with Holy Cross. “They played Holy Cross (in a tournament) on the weekend and took a set from them and I’m not unhappy with these scores. I think they’re doing really good.”
The Hawks were able to hang with the tough Crusader club through the middle part of every set before the Crusaders were able to finish strong and close out the win, taking the final two sets by a score of 25-16 and 25-17.In the second set they trailed 17-14 before the Crusaders went on a roll.
“We’ve moved Spencer Chatterton, he’s been a setter his entire career and we’ve moved him into being a middle hitter,” said Ardern. “He’s working really hard, he’s playing consistently and he’s one of our best passers for not having passed the last four years and I’m really looking forward to a good development from him throughout the season.”
At the net is where the Hawks had most of their success against the Crusaders, receiving strong blocking from Will Hart, Kyle Garrett and Chatterton.
“We’ve got some height and we’ve got some spring, even with the shorter boys” said Ardern. “I think that it’s a great start to their season.”
In field hockey the Hawks have come up one goal short in both their matches, losing 2-1 to Sydenham to open the season and then were blanked 1-0 by Regi.
They were scheduled to take on Holy Cross and Ernestown yesterday afternoon. Results weren’t known at press time. Rather than play at individual schools, all KASSAA field hockey games will be played on the turf of the Invista Centre or Tindall Field this year.
The Hawks football season got underway yesterday as both the seniors and juniors hosted Sydenham.