Before the Nipissing Lakers men's volleyball team worries about the playoffs, they have to take care of business Friday and Saturday night.

Entering the weekend, the Lakers are on the outside looking in, but have an opportunity to bounce back into the playoff picture with a big weekend and some help from other teams.

Nipissing needs two wins to give them eight on the season, which would tie them with York who has just one match remaining in their schedule.

With a loss by York and a split by Windsor, the Lakers should advance to the post-season for the first time in their history of play in the OUA.

There are a lot of 'ifs,' but first thing first – Nipissing needs wins.

The weekend begins with the Guelph Gryphons, who sport an identical 6-12 record and have ideas of a post-season berth as well.

The Gryphons enter the weekend coming off a loss to Toronto and are 2-3 in their past five matches and 2-6 in 2016.

Guelph topped RMC and Ryerson earlier in the month before falling to Toronto.

In their first meeting of the season, the Gryphons came away with a 3-1 win over the Lakers, who will be looking for some revenge Friday night.

Nipissing sits 3-5 on home court, while Guelph has struggled on the road, recording a 1-8 record to date.

Following their showdown Friday night, the Lakers will entertain the country's top team, the Marauders.

McMaster suffered their first loss this past weekend, losing in five sets to Toronto, but prior to that, McMaster had cruised through the OUA, winning17 straight matches and losing just four sets in total.

The Marauders already have first place secured and will look to enter the regular season on a winning note.

There's no question that it won't be an easy weekend for the Lakers, but they need wins and if they can pick up two, they will have done their job.

Coming off a tough five set loss, Nipissing will be hungry to bounce back.

After dropping the first set, Nipissing won the next two, but drop sets four and five as they slid to their fourth straight defeat.

Cam Branch had 16 kills, Warren Taylor added 11 and both Lyndon Sonego and Steve Wood chipped in with nine.

Shawn Humphrey had 35 assists in the five set battle.

All the Lakers will need to be at their very best when they hit the court this weekend.

Start times are set for 8 p.m. Friday against Guelph and Saturday when the Lakers face McMaster.

Saturday will also mark Senior's Night for Nipissing, as they honour a pair of veterans with a pre-match ceremony.