TORONTO — After falling to the Toronto Varsity Blues on Friday night, the Ryerson Rams fought hard to take a 3-0 (25-12, 25-19, 25-8) win over the Trent Excalibur on Saturday night at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto. 

Leading the way for Ryerson was Lauren Veltman (Brampton, Ont.), who totalled 12 kills, three blocks, and 14.5 points in the match. 

The Rams came out strong in the first set, gliding to a 25-12 win and going up 1-0 in the match. Rookie Mikayla Sherriffs (Calgary, Alta.) served up three aces in the first set while Veltman had three kills and two solo blocks in the opening frame. 

The second set saw tighter play from the Excalibur, but the Rams managed to hold their own and pulled out a 25-19 win. 

The Rams continued to dominate in the third set, capitalizing on the strong play of outside hitter Molly Peters (Surrey, B.C.). Peters would tally three consecutive kills as the Rams pulled ahead 16-4 at the technical. Ryerson would soon close out the set with a 25-8 win to tally the 3-0 sweep over the visiting Excalibur. 

"I'm very happy with the energy that the whole team brought to the court today," says Rams head coach Dustin Reid. "With the exception of maybe five or ten minutes in the entire match, we were really sound, consistent and in control."

Ryerson's Brett Hagarty (Aurora, Ont.) made the switch from outside hitter to libero in the win over Trent, while rookies Britney Veltman (Brampton, Ont.), Ashley Ditchfield (Windsor, Ont.), Alli Pauls (Winnipeg, Man.), Jasmine Rivest (Montreal, Que.) and Sherriffs all enjoyed significant playing time. Ditchfield was the leader amongst Rams rookies in the win, totalling four kills, four service aces, three blocks, and 9.5 points. 

"We had a lot of communication from the defence to our offence," says Ditchfield on the team's performance. "It was easy to communicate with the girls and their passes were amazing, so that obviously helped our offence in the win today." 

Peters also finished the game with a career-high 10 kills through three sets. 

The Rams officially wrap up their first-semester campaign with an 8-1 record and will enjoy some time off before returning to action in January.