Hamilton, ON – Nipissing Women's Volleyball dropped a pair of road games at McMaster University over the weekend.
On Friday, Jan. 16, the Lakers faced off against the Marauders. Nipissing won the opening set 26-24 to lead the match 1-0. McMaster led 22-20 over Nipissing before Cassie Robinson and Ramanda Bell provided key kills to get Nipissing back in the game. Nipissing won four straight points to take the set.
McMaster won the second set 25-18, winning 9 of 13 points in the middle part of the set to build a nine point lead over the Lakers. Nipissing would win four straight points to stay alive, but the Marauders finished the job and tied the match at one set apiece.
McMaster jumped to a 10-4 lead in the third set, but Nipissing battled back and cut the deficit to just two points at 17-15 Marauders. The teams would trade points before McMaster took four of the last five points in the set to win 25-19 and take a 2-1 lead in the match.
In the fourth set, McMaster raced to a 12-4 lead and looked keen on finishing the match as soon as they could. Nipissing would score courtesy of a kill from Alex Hannivan and Oceane Raymond-Leduc. The Marauders continued to pile on the points, and would take the set 25-13 and the match 3-1.
Nipissing's Oceane Raymond-Leduc scored 17 kills in the match, followed by Ramanda Bell with 7, and Cassie Robinson with 6. Kiara Van Steekelenburg scored two service aces for the Lakers. Maddeline Lamothe had 19 assists and Logan Garvey had 13. Raymond-Leduc and Elisabeth Spence both led Nipissing with 15 digs each.
Saturday, Jan. 17, the Lakers looked to split their weekend series with McMaster with another matchup at Burridge Gymnasium.
McMaster too a 9-4 lead in the first set before Nipissing clawed their way back into the match, winning six points in a row to lead 11-10. Cassie Robinson and Anna Marie Horvat both had kills in the run, and Madeline Lamothe served back-to-back aces. The set would go back and forth from here, with either side scoring a point or two before the other would respond. The set was tied at 22 after Anna Marie Horvat scored a kill, but McMaster would win three points in a row to take the set 25-22 and lead 1-0.
McMaster would jump out to a 9-5 lead after winning five points in a row to start the second set. The Marauders then took another four of five points to lead 14-9. Nipissing would get back in the game with a four point run of their own, as Oceane Raymond-Leduc and Cassie Robinson scored big kills for Nipissing. From here, McMaster would take seven of the next eight points and win the set 25-18.
The third set saw a close battle and a tie at 16, 18, 20, 22 and 24. Nipissing capitalized on scoring errors from McMaster to rack up points. Ocean Raymond-Leduc scored key points for the Lakers with kills to keep Nipissing in the match. However, McMaster's Lucie Shaver scored back-to-back kills for the Marauders' 25th and 26th points to win the match 3-0.
Nipissing's Oceane Raymond-Leduc led the Lakers with 10 kills, followed by Anna Marie Horvat and Elisabeth Spence with 7 each.
Madeline Lamothe had two service aces, while Ramanda Bell added one of her own.
Lamothe also racked up 25 assists in the match. Raymond-Leduc and Jada Weir each had 11 digs, while Kassandra Pavlic had 10.
The losses move Nipissing Women's Volleyball to 3-11 on the season.
Nipissing is back at home this coming weekend with matchups against the Trent Excalibur. Friday, Jan. 23rd will see the Lakers in action at 6PM, and Saturday, Jan. 24th WVB will play at 2PM. Catch the action live on OUA.tv.
#GoLakers
