The York University Lions women's volleyball team beat the Nipissing Lakers in North Bay, Ont. on Saturday, as they won three out of four sets against the Lakers in their first regular season game of 2018-2019.
 
The Lions took the first set of the game as they reached the 25-point mark while the Lakers scored 18 points. The Lions were able to record eight kills, three of them by York's Kayla Clennon, and the Lakers' were not too far behind the Lions with six kills.
 
In the second set of the game, the Lakers were able to pull ahead and win the set, tying the score 1-1. The Lakers cruised to the 25-point mark as the Lions trailed behind by 10 points. The Lakers' Madison Murphy scored three of the seven kills for Nipissing in the set.
 
The Lions took the lead for the remainder of the game as they prevented the Lakers from winning any other set.
 
The third set saw a battle between the Lions and the Lakers as the took the set 25-22. The Lions more than doubled the amount of kills as Nipissing as the Lions fired 11 kills compared to the Lakers four. Fifth-year veteran Cadence Currie was able to contribute three solid kills, as did fifth-year outside hitter Celeste Witzell.
 
In the final set, the Lions took a tremendous lead over the Lakers and ran away with the game winning 25-9. Clennon finished the set with five kills and led the Lions with 16 points, 11 kills and 14 digs on the day greatly contributing to the Lions' win. Setter Chiara Da Silva also had a strong day, tallying 24 assists, nine points and eight digs.
 
The win marked the first behind the bench for Lions head coach Jennifer Neilson in her first regular season game as head of the program. Neilson was named head coach of the program in July.
 
The Lions will be playing the Guelph Gryphons on Friday, Nov. 2 in Guelph, Ont. for their second regular season game.