The York University Lions men's volleyball team picked up an important two points on Saturday night with a sweep of the Nipissing Lakers at the Tait McKenzie Centre.
 
The Lions improved to 6-9 with the win and pulled within four points of the Lakers for the final playoff spot in the OUA East Division.
 
In the first set, the Lions trailed behind the Lakers but were quick to regain the lead. Andrew Tauhid scored a service ace to make it 16-13. The Lakers were closing in on the Lions 22-20, but a service error gave the Lions the chance to get the set point. An attack error from Grady McClure gave the Lions the set point, and a kill from Andrew Shotbolt ended the first set 25-22 for the Lions.
 
The Lions came out strong in the second set, putting pressure on the Lakers and forcing them into many attack errors. The Lakers came back to tie it with four straight points, but the Lions had other plans as a service ace from Tauhid followed by another from Toure Nwakwesi put the Lions back in the lead at 13-8. The Lions dominated from there and were once again closing in on the win. A stable block from Nwakwesi helped the Lions edge closer to the set, followed by an attack error to give the Lions the set point match and they took it 25-15.
 
The third set started slow for the Lions as they were down four points at the start. Nathan Groenveld had to call a time out to regroup his team, and it paid off as the Lions got on the scoreboard for the first time in the set and started to catch up. A block from Nwakwesi and Aleksander Grzegorczyk helped get the Lions back in the lead, and a block made it 22-19. Nwakwesi scored a set point from a serve ace followed by a tip from Everton to defeat the Lakers 25-20 and a 3-0 sweep overall.
 
Tauhid finished with a team-high 13 points on nine kills, three service aces and a block.
 
The Lions play their next game against the Ryerson Rams at the Mattamy Athletic Centre on Saturday at 8pm as they continue to compete for a playoff spot.