TORONTO, Ont. – On paper, Wednesday's match against the George Brown Huskies should have been an easy victory for the Durham College women's volleyball team, but the Huskies made the Lords earn for it.
 
After being swept and only reaching a maximum of 18 points in November's meeting in Oshawa, the Huskies lost their second semester match 3-1.
 
They did it by starting with a 25-23 opening set victory, followed by a strong second. Both teams were tied 18-18 before Durham scored the next six points and eventually won 25-20.
 
Losing the opening set may not look like much, but it was the first time the Lords had lost a set to the Huskies in conference play since October 30, 2013 when they lost 3-2 in Toronto. That said, this was the eighth straight win for Durham against George Brown. 
 
"There are no excuses for any result, but we have a young team and tonight provided a few teachable moments for our women," said head coach Tony Clarke. "We were successful at home against this same team in November, but you cannot take anyone lightly in the OCAA. Each night we also put a game plan in place and if we stick to that we're generally successful. We strayed from that slightly tonight, but when we got on track the results turned around."
 
The third set was all Durham as they walked away with a 25-13 win before another strong fourth saw the Huskies battle back to fall only 25-20.
 
Offensively the Lords were led by the "Cannon Sisters." Sarah Rayment (Whitby, Ont.) finished with 12 kills and an ace, while Jessica Joensen (Pickering, Ont.) had 11 kills and a match high four aces.
 
They were set up for much of the match by Megan Romain (Ajax, Ont.) who finished with 30 assists.
 
Cassidy Nicholson-Clarke (Ajax, Ont.) had a great all-around night with eight kills, two aces and three blocks for a career-high 13 points. Jonika Babb (Oshawa, Ont.) also finished with three blocks.
 
Wednesday's victory comes in Durham's only game of the week and first conference match of 2018. Next week will be a busy one for the Lords as they are home to host the Georgian Grizzlies on Tuesday night before hitting the road on Wednesday night to face the Centennial Colts.
 
The week wraps up at home with Algonquin on Saturday and La Cité on Sunday.
 
QUICK LOOK AT THE LORDS
Overall Record: 15-9
Conference Record: 7-3
 
Next match: Tuesday, Jan. 23 vs. Georgian Grizzlies (6 PM – CRWC)