It was a tough ending to a season where the Nipissing Lakers women's volleyball team showed great improvement in the second half.

Entering the final weekend of the season, the Lakers had just pride to play for, but they had strung together three wins in the second half of the season and back-to-back wins ahead of their season finale.

Unfortunately their finale was against a team, the McMaster Maruaders, which had lost just three times all season and are poised to make a long playoff run.

The Marauders ended up sweeping the Lakers in three sets to close out the campaign for both teams.

After a strong four set victory Friday night, Nipissing was unable to continue their hot play Saturday night.

The Marauders came out strong, building up an early lead, but the Lakers didn't go away, keeping the score close.

They trailed just 10-7 early in the opening set, but were outscored 15-7 from there, as McMaster claimed the first set by a final of 25-14.

It was a different story in the second, as the teams traded points for pretty much the entire time and after finding themselves down 15-11, the Lakers fought back and had the set even at 16-16.

McMaster would once again grab a lead and pull away, eventually claiming the 25-22 triumph to go up 2-0.

In the third, the score was tied 8-8 early and things were close until late when McMaster pulled up away, as they grabbed a 20-14, cruising to the 25-16 win and the sweep.

Tracy Hammerton was solid for Nipissing, picking up nine kills, Erika Lapierre added four and Victoria Willars put home four kills as well.

The Lakers are done for another year and despite coming up short of their ultimate goal, they will take away positives from the season – their third in the OUA.

The OUA will see changes to their volleyball next year and the Lakers will have to adapt, but they'll be well-prepared when the 2016-17 season rolls around.