The York University Lions women's volleyball team fell to the Ryerson Rams in straight sets on Saturday (Jan. 31) in Toronto, ending their bid for one of the four playoff spots in the OUA East Division.
 
The Lions fell to 9-8 on the season and are now four points back of the fourth-place Queen's Gaels in the OUA East standings, with two games remaining. The Gaels also hold the tiebreaker. With the win, the Rams improved to 13-4 and are tied with the Ottawa Gee-Gees for second spot in the divison.
 
The Rams won the first set 25-20, the second 25-18 and the third 25-23.
 
The first set was a tight one that opened with a kill from Abby Ganzhorn (Markham, Ont.). The Rams then showered the Lions with kills from Chelsea Briscoe, Veronica Livingston and Jena Bonello.
 
The Lions were able to catch up to the Rams and tie the score at 14-14 thanks to kills from Veneta Mincheva (Gatineau, Que.), Brittney Hopley (Thornhill, Ont.), and Aleks Arsovic (Burlington, Ont.). The Lions held the tied score until 19-19, but one kill from Emily Emily Nicholishen and three from Veronica Livingston ended the set in favour of the Rams.
 
In the second set, the Rams opened up the scoring with a kill from Nicholishen that was quickly followed by two kills from Ganzhorn. The Lions committed a serious of attack errors and the pounding kills from Hopley weren't enough to stay ahead. They fell behind by seven points and the set ended that way.
 
In the last and final set the Rams continued to hold a steady lead as they opened up with a kill from Briscoe and several kills from Livingston. Michelle Pierce (Windsor, Ont.), Mincheva, Arsovic, and Hopley hammered kills at the Rams throughout the set, but it wasn't enough to break the Rams lead as they won by two points.
 
Hopley led all Lions with 12 points on 10 kills and two blocks, while Pierce had 11 points with six kills, five blocks and one service ace.
 
Livingston led all players in the match with 18.5 points, on 15 kills, two service aces and 1.5 blocks.
 
The next game for the Lions is a home game on Saturday (Feb. 7) at 2pm against the Western Mustangs at the Tait McKenzie Centre.