London, ON – Nipissing Men's Volleyball's historic playoff run concluded on Friday, March 6 with a 3-0 loss to the Western Mustangs in the OUA's bronze medal match.
The first set saw an 8-8 tie as both sides traded points to begin the match. The score remained close at 14-13 Western until the Mustangs scored three in a row to take a 17-13 lead. Western's lead grew to five at 20-15, then 22-17. Nipissing tried to claw their way back into the match but Western managed three more points in a row to secure a 25-18 win.
The second set saw another close start as the Lakers trailed Western 5-4. The Mustangs scored four points in a row to lead 9-4. The sides traded runs of two before the score came to 14-9 for the home team. Nipissing managed a three-point run to trail 16-14 before Western did the same to build a 20-15 lead. The Lakers fought their hardest to get into the match once again capitalizing on three Western attacking errors to trail 24-19. The Mustangs finished the set on the next point, taking a 25-19 win and a 2-0 lead in sets.
In a do or die third set for Nipissing, the Lakers began with a three-point run to lead 6-5. Western would counter with three-in-four to lead 9-8. Western would build a 12-10 lead before the lakers rallied off of kills from
Zander Kasunich,
Taydon Shantz, and a bad set from Western to tie the set at 13. From here, the set saw ties at 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19 as neither side let the other gain any momentum. Western scored two in a row to lead 21-19 before Kasunich scored another kill to keep Nipissing in it. Western then scored three straight points to lead 24-20, and eventually took the set 25-21 and the win, 3-0.
Marc Marchand led the Lakers with 10 kills.
Taydon Shantz added 7, and
Jimmy Gill scored 6. Ben Franz had 3 blocks for Nipissing, while
Zander Kasunich and
Jimmy Gill had 1 apiece.
Jack Svendsen scored 28 assists, and
Marek Vann Struth had 4.
Xavier Legace and Shantz each totaled 7 digs in the loss.
Nipissing finishes the 2025-26 season in 4
th place in the OUA's Forsyth Cup playoffs and an overall record of 12-11. This season marks Nipissing's best performance since joining OUA competition, reaching the semifinal match for the first time in program history.
Congratulations to Men's Volleyball on a fantastic season and playoffs. The countdown is on for the first set of the 2026-27 season.
#GoLakers
