Mixed results for Lakers Volleyball Teams

The Nipissing Lakers Volleyball Teams at home for the first time this season came away with mixed results as the women won both matches and the men split their series with Fanshawe and Niagara.

Saturday the Lady Lakers (4-1) faced the pesky Fanshawe Falcons (4-2) and came away with a 3-1 victory (25-20, 23-25, 25-22, 25-15).

The Lady Lakers were able to control most the tempo for the first two sets however a gritty Fanshawe team pulled off six straight points to take the second set away from the Lakers 25-23. The Lady Lakers responded by taking the third set and dominating the fourth set to claim the victory.

Lucia DeMarco had a career high 17 points on 12 kills and five blocks to lead the Lakers offence while rookie left side Melissa Graham had an impressive 16 points in her home debut. Stephanie Stubbert added 11 points and Liza Grenon had 10.

Stephanie Tiegs was named the player of the game.

Sunday the Lady Lakers came out on top of a marathon 3-2 (25-19, 12-25, 25-16, 19-25, 15-8) match with the Niagara Knights. The team was able to battle through some inconsistent play to come out on top in the end of the five set thriller.

Chandra Massey and Graham led the Lakers offence with 10 points each while player of the game Ali Burton came in mid way through the fourth set and put back some key kills for the Lakers allowing the team to claim victory.

“We are still battling some consistency issues but to teams credit they got the job done,” said head coach Marc LaRochelle.

“We got away from our game plan in a few sets and it really showed in our results. We have to learn to pay attention to details and keep our focus throughout the match.”

On the men’s side the Lakers (2-1) renewed their rivalry with the fifth ranked Fanshawe Falcons (4-1) and the match did not disappoint as it featured three intense sets, a 25 minute delay and a protest launched by both teams. In the end the Falcons escaped with a 3-0 victory (25-22, 25-20, 27-25) however a decision is still pending regarding the protest made by head coach Grant Ross in regards to an out of rotation call.

Lakers middle player Adam Leblanc was the top offensive player with 12 kills while fourth year left side Zach
Halwachs had 9 points.

Halwachs was named the player of the game.

Sunday, the Lakers were able to put the loss behind them and responded with a 3-1 (25-20, 19-25, 25-22, 25-22) victory against the Niagara Knights (1-3).

Andre Leblanc, Adam Leblanc and Zach Halwachs provided the balanced scoring each pouring in 12 kills while Jamie VanderZande added 6 points on six kills.

“We had a mixed weekend for our home opener,” stated head coach Grant Ross. “There were some periods where I thought we looked great, and others where we were not so good. As a group we are struggling to put forth a consistent effort from start to finish. Fanshawe is a very big experienced team and anything less than a full effort was not going to be good enough against them. They were able to run points against us in both the first and second games that we were not able to overcome. In the third we were getting better but were not able to close it out.”

Ross felt that the team performed better against Niagara putting service pressure on the Knights and the blocking was more effective.

"We still made too many execution errors, but it was a step in the right direction. We need a bit more game experience, and we will be working on a few things this week.” Added Ross.

Both teams will be at the Humber Cup next weekend as the tune up for their next home games against Sheridan and rival Humber College November 21st and 22nd.