Lakers volleyball teams sweep to open season

The Nipissing Lakers volleyball teams kicked off the 2012-13 season in style by sweeping Niagara and Sheridan to score the road victories.Saturday, the Lakers women’s team got off to a slow start but got better as the game wore on to capture the 3-0 (25-21, 25-16, 26-16) victory over the Niagara Knights.
Sunday was a different story, as the Lakers struggled to find their game as poor passing and unforced errors led to a narrow 3-0 (27-25, 25-22, 27-25) victory over the Sheridan Bruins.
“Overall I don’t think we played to the level we are capable of this weekend,” said head coach Marc LaRochelle. “We understand that we were outworked against Sheridan and that we didn’t compete to the standard we set for ourselves. It’s a good lesson early on and now we just need to get back to work in preparation for Humber this weekend.
On the men’s side, the Lakers showed why they are considered one of the favourites to win it all this season as they overpowered Niagara 3-0 (25-13, 25-20, 25-16) to start the season in impressive fashion. The Lakers used solid blocking, and setter Jordan Boucher distributed the ball well, creating numerous one-on-one match-ups for his hitters.
Sunday, the Lakers and Bruins locked horns in the first set as both teams displayed a quick powerful offence as well as solid blocking and impressive defence. After the dust settled, the Bruins escaped with the 28-26 victory in a very entertaining first set.
The Lakers re-focused and quickly turned the match around, taking the action to the Bruins with solid serving and great blocking to take three sets in a row, claiming the 3-1 victory (26-28, 25-21, 25-10 and 25-16.)
“It was a great first step to set the standard of play for games to come,” said assistant coach Grant Lemon. “We showed our ability to be successful over two very good teams early in the season and we look forward to maintaining and exceeding this standard.”
The Lakers will be back in action as they open the season at home Sunday against their West division rivals the Humber Hawks. The annual pots and pans games will begin with the women at noon followed by the men at 2 p.m.