North Bay, ON – Lakers Men's Volleyball took home a crucial 3-0 win over the Trent Excalibur on Saturday, Jan. 24 at home.
Nipissing jumped to a 5-2 lead earluy in the first set before Trent battled back to tie things at 11. The set would remain close through the middle portion before Nipissing took six of seven points to build a 21-18 lead. Marc Marchand provided key kills and Trent O'Brien scored an ace to help the Lakers take control of the opening frame. Trent would battle all the way back to tie the set at 24. From here, the match would see thrilling ties at 26,27,28,29,30, and 31 before Nipissing's Grant Haley provided two key kills to give Nipissing a 33-31 win in set one, and lead 1-0 in the match.
Trent would come out swinging in the second set, taking a 4-2 lead before the Lakers found their footing, scoring five of six points to lead 9-7. The lead remained at three for Nipissing before Marc Marchand and Zander Kasunich led a five out of six points run that gave Nipissing an 18-12 lead. Trent would continue to score at the same pace as Nipissing, but the Lakers were determined to not squander their lead. Kasunich and Marchand both scored kills down the stretch at the Lakers won 25-20 in the second.
Nipissing took a lead early in the third set and never gave it back to Trent. The lead saw 12-9 and then 14-13 as the Excalibur fought hard to gain traction. Nipissing took six of eight points in the middle portion of the set to build a 20-15 lead. From here, the Lakers scored five of the final seven points to grab a tidy 25-17 win and take the match 3-0.
Nipissing's Zander Kasunich scored 20 kills in the win, followed by Grant Haley and Marc Marchand with 12 each. Trent O'Brien scored two aces in the contest, and Kasunich and Jacob Isnor each notched one. Marek Van Struth scored 46 assists and eight digs in the win. Xavier Legace added eight digs of his own.
The win moves Nipissing to 9-7 on the season, good for fourth place in the OUA.
Men's Volleyball is back in action next weekend on the road at York University. Match one goes Friday, Jan. 30 at 8PM, while match two is slated for Saturday, Jan. 31 at 4PM. Tune in live on OUA.tv.
#GoLakers
