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.