It's been a tough season so far for the Nipissing Lakers women's volleyball team and it's tough to pinpoint what the issue has been.
In a number of matches, they have been competitive and seemingly just a solid run away from coming out on top.
In other matches, the team gets behind early and can't climb back quickly enough and falls short in the end.
With a pair of road matches schedule for this weekend, the Lakers will have a good chance to get into the win column if they play the way they did against Ottawa and York early in the season.
First up is Brock, a team with just one win on the season and who has dropped three straight heading into this weekend where they'll face both Western and the Lakers.
Since joining the OUA, the Lakers have been led by their defence – it has both kept them in matches, as well as given time for the offence to click and catch up.
This year, it's the same story, however, the offence has been a little bit slower in catching up and it's caused some issues early on in the year.
It's not at all the way the Lakers would have liked things to start in their third year in the OUA, however, there are two matches this weekend and another semester to go, so throwing in the towel is not only not an option, but not even a thought for a team still getting their feet under them.
After facing Brock, the team will continue on to face the York Lions, the same team that slipped past Nipissing in North Bay just a few weekends ago.
The Lions are 3-5 on the year, but definitely had holes in their game and the Lakers exploited them, especially in the first set, when they came out on top.
The Lions have lost three straight and are winless since defeating the Lakers. After starting the year 3-2, York has hit a slide and Nipissing will look to take advantage.
During the first matchup between the Lakers and Lions, Nipissing was able to neutralize much of the York attack, limiting their hitters. No Lion attacker had more than seven kills, while the Lakers had two players with over 10.
But regardless of what the stats say, the Lakers need to pick up wins and they'll hope two are on the menu this weekend.
First up, it's Brock Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday it's the Lions that will host Nipissing for a 2 p.m. start.
