Lakers fall short, gain valuable experience

March 1, 2010 – Ancaster, ON – The Nipissing Lakers men’s volleyball team came into the OCAA provincial championship as the second seed in the province and hopes to claim an elusive OCAA medal.

The Lakers were scheduled first on the court as they faced the Durham Lords (14-4) who finished second in the East division and received a bye to the Championship. In their only previous meeting the Lakers edged the Lords 2-1 at the Humber Cup in November. The Lakers hopes of OCAA gold were dashed as the Lords were able to come out with a 3-1 victory relegating the Lakers to the bronze medal draw.

Andre Leblanc led the team with 12 points while twin brother Adam added 10 points.

The Lakers would have to re-focus quickly and that they did as they eliminated the defending OCAA Champions the Algonquin Thunder 3-1 (25-21, 21-25, 25-18, 25-23) to advance to the bronze semi-final match.

Adam and Andre Leblanc once again led the offence with 18 and 17 points respectively.

In a surprise match-up the Lakers would have to face the host Redeemer who were ousted out of gold medal contention by Seneca College. These two teams have put together some very entertaining matches throughout the season as the Lakers edged Redeemer twice in regular season play.

This time around however it was Redeemer playing in front of a boisterous home crowd that edged the Lakers 3-2 (21-25-22, 19-25, 25-18, 15-13) ending the Lakers season.

Adam Leblanc, Andre Leblanc and Frankie Edgecombe led the Lakers offence with 17, 15 and 14 points respectively.