AROUND OUA: Drakich earns 400th career win in straight sets victory over Trent

SCOREBOARD

Queen's 2 @ Nipissing 3

Trent 0 @ Toronto 3

RMC 0 @ York 3

Drakich earns 400th career win in straight sets victory over Trent

The No. 2 nationally ranked University of Toronto Varsity Blues women's volleyball team defeated the Trent Excalibur in straight sets on Sunday afternoon (Nov. 27) at Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport. Set scores were 25-8, 25-15, 25-17.
 
The win marks head coach Kristine Drakich's 400th career victory for the Varsity Blues and also improves U of T to 7-0 heading into the December exam break. In her 28 seasons as Blues bench boss, Drakich has amassed a 400-125 coaching record over regular season and playoff matches.  
 
Rookie outside hitter Emma Armstrong led all players with 10.5 points on eight kills, two aces and an assisted block. She also posted five digs in the contest.
 
Second-year right side hitter and reigning OUA East player of the year Alina Dormann also played a strong game, notching 10 points with nine kills and one ace, while also adding five digs.
 
Third-year veteran Veronica Derylo added eight points on five aces, two blocks and one kill, while fourth-year setter Erin Jacobs posted 17 assists in the win. Anna Feore notched seven kills and a team-high 10 digs on the day.
 
Trent's Camile Garzon led her team with 6.5 points off of four kills and 2.5 blocks.

The Varsity Blues resume regular season play in the New Year as they travel to Thunder Bay on January 14 to take on the Lakehead Thunderwolves.

Source: Toronto Varsity Blues

Lakers prevail in five sets over visiting Gaels

It wasn't easy, but the Nipissing Lakers women's volleyball team knew it wouldn't be, so they were prepared.

That was the mentality going into the weekend as the Lakers hosted the final two games of the semester against two tough teams.

Saturday, they were able to take care of RMC in four, winning 3-1 and they made it a perfect weekend by outlasting the Queens Gaels 3-2 Sunday afternoon.

The Lakers improved to 4-3 on the season, which is good for fourth place in the East Division.

The Lakers started the match strong and took control of the first set just following the technical timeout, where they outscored Queens down the stretch to pick up a 25-18 win.

Nipissing really took advantage with the score 13-9, as they proceeded to open up a 20-13 lead before closing things out.

In the second, it was a bit more dominant, as they came out on top by a final of 25-15.

Once again, it was when they hit double digits that they really took off, building up a lead of 11-8 and turning that into a 24-13 advantage, before closing things out to go up 2-0.

In the third, the Gaels fought back to keep the match alive on their end, forcing the Lakers to regroup in the fourth set.

The fourth was a true battle, but like the third, it was the Gaels who were able to do enough to extend the match.

The 25-13 win in the third set allowed Queens to edge the Lakers 25-22 in the fourth and set up a fifth set.

In the final set, with the match on the line, Nipissing trailed early, but remained calm and collected and they were able to fight back and take a lead at the technical timeout.

They built off the 8-7 advantage and held on for a 15-12 triumph thanks to four straight points, including two kills by Shayla Kessler.

Kessler, along with Tracy Hammerton each had 18 kills to lead the Lakers attack.

The two combined for 43.5 total points in the match.

Annabelle Harvey and Erika Lapierre had a strong games as well, chipping in with 16 total kills and 21 points.

Lapierre had nine and Harvey had seven.

The Lakers are 4-3 at the break and will now take some time to rest and heal up before beginning the second half of the season in January.

Source: Nipissing Lakers

Lions sweep Paladins in final match before December break

The York University Lions women's volleyball team will head into the December break riding a three-game winning streak after a straight sets victory over the RMC Paladins at the Tait McKenzie Centre on Sunday afternoon.
 
The result of the match was never in doubt as the Lions won each set by at least eight points en route to their fifth victory of the year. They are now 5-3 and sit third in the OUA East standings. The Paladins are still looking for their first win of the season after falling to 0-9 with the loss.
 
The Lions dominated the first set. They scored the first three points and did not look back, taking it 25-8 for an early lead.
 
The Paladins settled in after that and put up a much better fight, but the Lions continued to roll and took the next two sets 25-17 and 25-12.
 
The Lions spread the scoring around with eight different players recorded at least five points. They were led by Celeste Witzell (Kitchener, Ont.), who had a match-high 10 points on eight kills, one block and one service ace. Kayla Clennon (Stouffville, Ont.) put up eight points, all on kills.
 
Kirsten Dillon (Surrey, B.C.) and Mimi Demski (Etobicoke, Ont.) split setting duties with 22 and 15 assists, respectively, while Sabah Kalim (Toronto, Ont.) led all players with 10 digs.
 
RMC's leading scorer was Kara Stephan with 9.5 points.
 
The Lions are now off for the month of December and will return to action on Saturday, Jan. 14 when they host the Ryerson Rams at the Tait McKenzie Centre for a match beginning at 12pm.

Source: York Lions