The Nipissing Lakers women's volleyball team showed they can play with the top teams in the OUA Friday night.

The Lakers battled point for point with the visiting Ryerson Rams, but came up short, losing 3-1 in an extremely entertaining and well-played match.

In the opening set, the Lakers came out a big slow and trailed 16-8 at the technical timeout.

They pushed the Rams late in the set and found themselves down just four – 20-16.

In a complete turnaround, Nipissing tied the game 24-24 and came up with a gritty 28-26 win to take the lead in the match.

In the second set, Nipissing led 9-3 early on and 12-10 in the beginning stages of the set.

The Rams pushed back, but the Lakers held a 16-13 advantage at the technical timeout.

Ryerson showed why they are one of the top teams in the league, composing themselves and fighting back to take a 23-22 lead before they held on for a 25-22 victory to even the match.

In Game 3, Nipissing got off to a slow start and trailed 5-0 early on and found themselves down 16-10 at the break.

The Rams put the set away with a killer instinct and defeated Nipissing 25-12 to go up 2-1 in the match.

Another battled ensued in the fourth and final set as Nipissing trailed 6-3 early on.

They picked up their game offensively and defensively and took a 16-12 lead into the timeout break.

The Lakers extended that lead to 19-13 late in the set, but the Rams chipped away and closed the gap.

At 21-17 in favour of Nipissing, the Rams went on a run and took over the lead and claimed the fourth set by a final of 26-24.

The thrilling match went to the Rams 3-1, but exciting from the get-go.

Nipissing will look to bounce back when they hit the road on Sunday to take on the Trent Excalibur in Peterborough.

Match time is set for 1pm.