For the second straight match, the Nipissing Lakers men’s volleyball team played well enough to win, but weren’t rewarded for their efforts.
After losing a five set heartbreak, the Lakers dropped a well-played four set decision to the Ryerson Rams Sunday afternoon.
After opening up the match with a 25-22 victory, the Lakers came up short in the next three, including an exciting 28-26 setback in set three.
The Rams closed things down in the fourth set, stifling any attempted comeback by the Lakers and sending them to the loss.
The Lakers played eight very strong sets this weekend, but were unable to pick up their first victory of the season.
Lyndon Sonego led the Lakers Sunday, piling up 14 kills while Andrew McWiggan had another solid effort, scoring 10 kills.
Warren Taylor chipped in with five kills and five blocks for Nipissing.
Sunday’s game capped off a four match homestand for the Lakers, who now hit the road four two matches this weekend against Western and Windsor.
Following this road trip, the Lakers will finish off the semester hosting RMC and Queens at the end of the month.
Game times for this weekend are 7:00 p.m. Friday night against Western and 3:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon versus Windsor.
Women's Volleyball
After a hot start to the season, the Nipissing Lakers women’s volleyball team has hit a bit of a speed bump in their journey.
The Lakers dropped Saturday’s match to the nationally ranked Ryerson Rams, which puts the Lakers at 3-4 so far this season.
Nipissing fell behind early and couldn’t recover or put together enough runs to climb back into the match.
They made a late push in the third set, but the Rams squashed any further chance of a comeback and took the final set, earning the match victory.
Entering the weekend, the Lakers knew they were up against some tough competition, as both teams – Toronto and Ryerson – have been in the national rankings for a number of weeks and continue to lead the way in the OUA.
The Lakers’ opponents this weekend are now a combined 13-1.
Leading the way offensively for Nipissing was Tracy Hammerton who had six kills, Brittany Ardron added five and Lindsay Vanderweide chipped in with four.
The schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Lakers, as they now face Ottawa in the road next weekend before closing out the first semester in two weeks at home.
Both Ottawa and Queens are in the thick of the race for the post-season and will prove to be huge challenges for Nipissing.
Mixed in there as well is RMC, a team that can’t be taken for granted, but one who is having their struggles so far this year.
The Lakers face Ottawa next Saturday afternoon.
