LIONS FALL IN FOUR TO NIPISSING, SUFFER FIRST LOSS OF SEASON

The York University Lions men’s volleyball team was looking for its eighth consecutive win to start the 2024-25 season after earning a five set win in the first game of their two-game weekend set with the Nipissing Lakers on Friday night. 

The Lions were provided little resistance in the opening set. After going down 8-7, York scored the next six points to go take a 13-8 lead. They lead 15-10 before closing the set on a 10-3 run, punctuated by back-to-back kills from Alex Dorling, as the Lions took the opening set in convincing fashion, 25-13, to go up 1-0. 

The next three sets, however, were a complete variation from the opener. Nipissing took an 8-4 lead in the second after a Ben Franz kill, which was a sign of things to come. Nipissing led by as many as nine on a couple different occasions, before closing it out, 25-15, on a Darius Best attack error. 

The third set was more of the same, as the Lions were unable to execute early in points. With the teams tied 4-4, the hosts scored five in a row to go up 9-4. That flurry set the tone for the remainder of the set, as the Lions trailed at one point by a score of 19-8 after a York attack error. The Lakers won the third by a 25-16 count, the winning points coming on consecutive kills from Marc Marchand. 

The Lakers seized the momentum from the last two sets and carried it over into the fourth. An 8-0 Nipissing rally took the Lions from up 6-5 to down 13-6. That spurt was York’s undoing in the fourth, as they were unable to sustain a run of their own, never scoring on successive points in the set after that Laker run. They won the fourth by the same score as the third, 25-16, handing York its first loss of the season and leaving the OUA without an undefeated team. 

LOOKING AHEAD: 

The Lions will look to rebound when they return home to face the Queen’s Gaels for a pair of matches next weekend in what will be their biggest test of the season in their final games before the holiday break. First serve Friday from the Tait McKenzie Centre will fly at 8:00 pm.