Lady Lakers heading to OCAA final

OSHAWA,ON. - The Nipissing Lakers were able to secure a spot in the gold medal game after an amazing performance in their semi-final matchup against the Algonquin Thunder. The two teams both had a great amount of spirit but it was the endurance and efforts of the Lakers that earned them the 3-0 sweep.

The Lakers came out of the gate flying picking up a 25-14 first set victory. The second and third sets were pretty much a mirror image of the first as the Lakers picked up a pair of 25-17 set victories. In the third and final set, Algonquin attempted to mount a comeback with a series of exciting rallies, but Nipissing held on for the 3-0 win.

The Lakers advance to the gold medal final where they will take on the Humber Hawks, a rematch of last three OCAA championship finals. The gold medal game will take place on Saturday night at 5:30 p.m. The Algonquin Thunder will advance to the bronze medal game where they will meet the Loyalist Lancers at 12 p.m.

CCAA All-Canadian Stefanie Hancock of the Lakers was the games leading scorer with 16 points in the match. Stephanie Stubbert was named the player of the game for Nipissing with 11 points. Kelsey Burton had 15 digs for Algonquin while Heather Bannister picked up player of the game honours in the setter position for the Thunder.

“I thought we played a strong game," noted Lakers head coach Marc LaRochelle.

One of the objectives was to serve tough and put some pressure on the Algonquin passers and I thought we did that fairly well.”

Nipissing will be hosting the 2009 CCAA National women’s volleyball championship and have already earned a berth to the championship, but the Lakers have another agenda coming into the provincials. “I want to earn our way to the (national) championship,” said Nipissing Athletic Director Vito Castiglione. “It was a good game for us today and tomorrow should be interesting. If tomorrows game is anything like the last game we played in league, it will be very exciting to watch.”

On the other end of the court, Algonquin felt that they missed a golden opportunity. “It was a little disappointing today,” Algonquin Head Coach Everton Senior said after the loss. “We thought we should have been able to give them a better game. We just struggled with our passing. We need to forget about today and come out tomorrow refocused. We have played them twice this season and split our games, so they want to beat us and we want to beat them. It should be a good game.”