DURHAM 3, ALGONQUIN 0

OTTAWA - Heading into the OCAA women's volleyball championship, the Durham College women's volleyball team has stepped up their game as they earned back-to-back wins in Ottawa over the weekend.

Coming off a hard-fought 3-2 loss on Thursday night to the Adidas Cup champion Georgian Grizzlies, the Lords earned a 3-0 sweep over Algonquin (Friday) followed by a 3-1 come from behind victory over La Cite (Saturday).

With the pair of wins, Durham slides into fifth place in the OCAA East region with a 9-8 record. As the Lords are hosting the provincial championship (Feb. 20-22), they also earn an automatic bye into the final eight tournament.

After a long bus-trip to Ottawa following a five set match against Georgian, the Lords showed no sign of fatigue as they picked up a 3-0 sweep over Algonquin with sets scores of 25-23, 25-20 and 28-26.

Emily Gilbert (Whitby, Ont.), who recorded nine aces the night before, ended the match with three kills, three aces and one block. Jessica Broad (Courtice, Ont.) continued her strong play posting a team-high eight kills and two blocks. Joelle Parnham (Orillia, Ont.) ran an efficient offence recording 36 assists.

The next afternoon, Durham dropped the first set by a score of 21-25 to La Cite, but managed to bounce back taking the next three by scores of 25-16, 28-26 and 25-19.

Broad racked up huge numbers in the win as she finished off 22 of 38 attacks to go along with two aces while Parnham would end up with 42 assists in the victory.

Great defensive play was a key factor in the game as the Lords were led by Natalie Manicotto (Winnipeg) who had a 12 dig performance.

The Lords will finish off their regular season on Wednesday night in Peterborough when they take on the Trent Excalibur. It will be a big match for Trent as they are tied with Seneca for top spot in the OCAA East region standings.

Durham College is proud to host the OCAA Women's Volleyball Championship (Feb. 20-22) and the OCAA Volleyball/Basketball All-Star Games (Mar. 22) at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Centre.

Source: Durham College