The York University Lions men's volleyball team travelled to North Bay, Ont., on Friday to face the Nipissing Lakers. The Lions won five of their seven pre-season matches and now have a strong start to their regular season with a 3-1 win over the Lakers.
 
The first set didn't go the way the Lions wanted. Both teams stayed within four points of each other, and were tied at 22-22.  The Lakers were able to pull ahead and speed their way to the 25^th point to end the set 25-22 for the Lakers.
 
The second set saw the Lakers establish a worrisome three-point lead early on. Their lead was short-lived, however, as a service error on Laker Curtis MacPherson and two service aces by Logan Mend tied up the score. From there, it bounced back and forth until the end of the match when the Lakers gave up four points in service errors, allowing the Lions to finish the set with a 25-23 win.
 
Wanting more, the Lions played aggressively right from the start of the third set. They maintained this intensity throughout, and the Lakers stood no chance of catching up. The Lions came out the winners again, this time with a 25-18 win. The fourth set unravelled similarly to the third, with the Lions establishing control of the court right away and the Lakers unable to catch up despite their best efforts. The Lions blasted their way to 25-15 victory in the fourth and final set of the match.
 
Leading the Lions in scoring was Toure Nwakesi with 15.5 points on 11 kills, two services aces and 2.5 blocks. Teammate Tyler Covach also had 11 kills throughout the match. Mend had the highest number of services aces, with 36 over the course of the match, and he also contributed seven points on five service aces and two kills, as well as five digs.
 
The Lions return to the Tait McKenzie Centre at 8pm Friday, Nov. 10 to take on the Ryerson Rams. Until then, they will be playing in Kingston, Ont., next weekend against the RMC Paladins and Queen's Gaels.