Heading into a weekend where they knew a sweep would be very tough, the Nipissing Lakers took care of the business they had to in their opening match.

As they look to get back on track, the Lakers faced the RMC Paladins and Queens Gaels in Kingston this past weekend and left with a split.

Friday night, the Lakers made quick work of the Paladins, winning in three sets, including a dominant 25-10 victory in the second set.

In the opening set, the Lakers had to really earn the win, coming away with a victory of 25-21 before dominating the second set and finishing the match up with a 25-19 win in the third.

Cam Branch led the Lakers with 15 kills, Lyndon Sonego added 11 and Steve Wood was solid with six kills and 12 total points thanks to an impressive blocking performance.

Warren Taylor also added seven kills in the win.

The next match, Nipissing knew they'd be in tough against the second place Gaels, who have just three losses to date, including one to the dominant McMaster Marauders.

While it was a three game sweep, the Lakers were right in the thick of it, losing 25-19, 25-21 and 25-23; the difference of just 12 total points throughout the match.

Sonego had a monster game, picking up 14 kills, while Branch added seven and Wood and Taylor each chipped in with six.

After the weekend split, the Lakers find themselves in eighth place in the OUA, four points up on Guelph and just four back of fourth place Toronto, so the final few matches will determine a lot.

Nipissing is off this weekend, but will return to action Feb. 6 and 7 when they hit the road and travel to Western and Windsor for a pair of road matches.

Windsor is currently near the bottom of the standings, but the Mustangs are a team the Lakers will need to defeat to help their chances of advancing to the post-season.