The York University Lions women's volleyball team arrived to the court at Tait McKenzie Centre on Friday night (Nov 4.) ready to face off against the Nipissing Lakers and ended the match with a straight sets victory.
 
In the first set of the match the Lakers appeared to be the more dominant team, at least for the first five points. After the score reached 5-2 in favor of the Lakers something clicked for York and from this point forward the Lions would display a desire to keep each ball alive on every Nipissing kill attempt.
 
Carley Flemmer (Delta, B.C.) set the bar for effort when the first set was tied at 14 as she laid out horizontally but maintained enough control to keep the ball alive. Pairing the effort of Flemmer with the setting accuracy of Kirsten Dillon (Surrey, B.C.) and the explosive hitting power of Melissa Smillie (White Rock, B.C.), Melissa Monkhouse (Guelph, Ont.) and Kayla Clennon (Stouffville, Ont.) made the Lions look like an unstoppable force.
 
The first half was highlighted by the Lions' ability to finish the play and to recover from an early deficit. The score was 24-18 when the Lions looked to clinch the first set of the match. Second-year libero Sabah Kalim (Toronto) earned a dig as she dove to keep the ball alive for Clennon to rifle the ball into the Lakers defence for the winning point of the match and a 1-0 lead.
 
The second set was the flip side of the first as the Lions jumped out aggressively to a 5-0 lead. The quick start was credited to Monkhouse finishing off of well-set balls, Celeste Witzell (Kitchener, Ont.) with great accuracy on her serves and Dillon with a deceptive move at the net.
 
Defensively the Lions' blocking was on point as many of the Lakers shot attempts would end up meeting the hands of Rachel Adams (Orangeville, Ont.) on the block. The Lions would win the second set with a score of 25-20.
 
The third and final set of the match was somewhat similar to the first in the sense that the Lakers kept it competitive for the first five points. The Lions would recover from the deficit quickly and route the Lakers to a 25-13 victory in the third set and a 3-0 sweep of the match.
 
Monkhouse led all players in the match with 17 points on 15 kills, one service ace and one block, and also added seven digs. Witzell had 13 points and Smillie finished with 12.5.
 
Flemmer and Clennon had 14 and 13 points, respectively, while Dillon put up 28 assists.
 
With the victory the Lions move to 2-0 on the season and continue to look like a re-born team with a new energy. The Lions' next game will take place Saturday (Nov. 5) when they travel to Hamilton, Ont., to play the McMaster Marauders.