The York University Lions women's volleyball team was defeated in straight sets on Sunday (Nov. 22) by the cross-town rival Toronto Varsity Blues at the Tait McKenzie Centre.
 
The Lions exchanged points all night with the CIS fourth-ranked Blues, but although the Lions were swept in straight sets, each set was hard fought and came down to the wire.
 
The first set was back and forth in scoring, but the Blues began to pull away at the midway point of the set, and a late comeback by Lions fell short in a 25-20 defeat.
 
The momentum from the first set carried over to the second as the Lions came out strong and took a commanding lead thanks to back-to-back blocks by Celeste Witzell (Kitchener, Ont.) that fueled the explosive play by York. As the Lions inched closer to clinching the second set, multiple costly errors led to the Varsity Blues tying the set and eventually taking it 26-24.
 
Witzell ended Sunday night with an impressive stat line of nine points, including seven kills and two blocks.
 
In the third set the Varsity Blues fell behind early as the Lions again began with a heap of dominance. The Lions' lead was short lived, however, as the Blues marched back and took the lead, and U of T would not look back as they found the open floor and pounded the ball with authority to take the third set 25-21.
 
The Varsity Blues' attack was led by Alina Dormann ,who finished with a game-high 16 points on 12 kills, two service aces and two blocks, and she also added 10 digs. The Lions' leading scorer was Sarah Williams (Oakville, Ont.) with 11 points, all on kills, and she also had 18 digs.
 
The Varsity Blues remain unbeaten on the season as they improve to 8-0, while the Lions fell to 3-5 after Sunday's loss.
 
The Lions are back on the court on Friday night (Nov. 27) in Guelph, Ont., to take on the Guelph Gryphons, and look to get back in the win column before their last home game of 2015 on Sunday afternoon (Nov. 29) against the Nipissing Lakers at 2pm.