OCAA Volleyball - Lakers teams end regular season with weekend split

NORTH BAY, ON – The Nipissing Lakers volleyball teams wrapped up the OCAA regular season by splitting weekend matches against the Humber Hawks and Sheridan Bruins.

Saturday the Lady Lakers were swept by their long time rival the Humber Hawks 3-0 but managed to finish the season on a winning note defeating the Sheridan Bruins 3-1 to cap off a 17-3 regular season campaign. The second place finish allows the Lady Lakers to advance to the OCAA provincial championship held at Cambrian College Feb. 25-27, 2010.

The Lady Lakers will await the winner of the cross-over match featuring the 6th place West team vs the 3rd place East team. Teams for this match-up will only be determined on the final day of the regular season (Feb. 17) as a log jam has occurred at the top of the East division standings

“We accomplished one of our goals which was to qualify for the provincial championship,” said head coach Marc LaRochelle. “The girls have earned the bye and we will certainly use the time to make our final preparations for provincials.”

The Lady Lakers have made the provincial finals the past four seasons and faced Humber in each of those finals.

With second place still on the line the Lakers faced the always tough Humber Hawks (13-2). The Hawks came out on fire in the first set controlling most of the intensity and play and cruised to the set win. The second set was much better for the Lakers and actually they controlled most it until a few untimely unforced errors late in the match allowed the Hawks to squeak by in the second set. The final set was again a side out battle until the Hawks went on a late run to sweep the match 3-0 handing the Lakers their fourth loss of the season.

The Lakers (12-4) would need to respond quickly as the task would not get any easier as the suddenly hot Sheridan Bruins (6-9) were chasing the final playoff position up for grabs in the West division. The Lakers came out a more intense and focused group as they were able to control the tempo of the match and pulled out the 3-0 victory putting an end to the Bruins post season hopes.

“I thought we rebounded really well after a tough loss to Humber,” said 5th year setter David Keo. “We need to be physically and mentally prepared for our cross-over match this weekend. We can’t take any games for granted at this point in the season.”

The Lakers will now face Sir Sanford Fleming (6-12) from Peterborough in a sudden death cross-over match Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Robert J Surtees Athletic Centre. The winner of the match will advance to the OCAA provincial championship hosted by Redeemer University/College in Ancaster February 25-27.

Submitted to BayToday.ca