The Nipissing Lakers women's volleyball team finally got what they deserved – a win.
The team has been played much better of late, but has had trouble finding the win column, as they taken on some of the country's best teams, specifically Ryerson and Toronto, who they played very tough, but fell short of a victory.
That changed this past weekend, when the Lakers picked up a split on the road, defeating the RMC Paladins in three sets, before falling in a solid effort Saturday against the Queens Gaels.
The Lakers set the tone in the first set, coming away with a 25-19 victory and rode that into the second set, where they made quick work of the Paladins, winning 25-14 to go up 2-0.
Early in the year, they built up a 2-0 lead on York, but couldn't put the match away and fell in five. This time, they made sure that wouldn't happen.
Despite a push back from RMC, the Lakers claimed a 25-22 win to take the match and snap their short three match losing streak.
The win also avenges a loss earlier in the season to RMC on home court.
Tracy Hammerton led the Nipissing offence with 11 kills, followed by
Erika Lapierre's eight and both
Annabelle Harvey and
Taylor Ley were solid, chipping in with a total of 18 points thanks to a strong blocking game.
Overall, the Lakers earned 12 solo blocks, compared to RMC's six.
Saturday night, the Lakers ran into a hot Gaels team, who had won three in a row entering their matchup.
And aside from a tough first set, where Nipissing lost 25-11, the teams were pretty even.
Queens did sweep the match, but barely edged the Lakers 25-23 in the middle set, before closing things out in the third with a 25-18 triumph.
Lapierre had another solid effort, coming up with seven kills, Hammerton added five and Harvey picked up four in the loss.
Nipissing has just one game this weekend, another road game, when they face the Ottawa Gee Gees.
Ottawa will enter the weekend coming off a loss to McMaster, but prior to the loss, the Gee Gees had won three in a row.
The Lakers dropped the teams' first meeting in October.
The match is set for 2 p.m. in Ottawa Saturday afternoon.
