It was a hard-fought match that the Nipising Lakers women's volleyball team can be proud of, despite the results.

The Lakers came up short, losing 3-0 to the powerful Toronto Varsity Blues Friday night at home, but it wasn't for lack of effort.

Nipissing went toe-to-toe with Toronto, dropping the three sets 25-21, 25-23 and 25-22 and was within a few points the entire match.

Toronto led from the get-go in the first set and took a 16-12 lead into the technical timeout and extended their lead to 21-16 late in the set.

Nipissing battled back and cut their deficit and trailed 23-20, but Toronto held on for the 25-21 win.

In the middle set, the teams traded points and Toronto held a 16-15 lead at the technical timeout, but Nipissing came back to tie the set 18-18.

The Blues were able to outlast Nipissing, winning 25-23 in the end.

In the third and what turned out to be the final set, the Lakers trailed 16-9 at the technical timeout, but fought back to make it 24-22 in favour of Toronto.

The Blues put it away on the next point to take the match.

Stephanie Armstrong was strong with 10.5 points in tonight's match. Olivia Robinson added 8.5 points and Averi Bodnar had 6.5 versus Toronto.

Nipissing remains at home to close out the first semester Saturday night versus Ryerson. The match starts at 6pm at the RJS Athletic Centre.