TORONTO – The No. 3 Ryerson Rams were back on home court for the first time since January 11, facing the Nipissing Lakers for the second time this season. The Rams came away with a 3-1 (25-17, 25-22, 23-25, 25-13) win, reminiscent of their win against them in November of 2019. 

"I was happy with how we played today," said head coach Dustin Reid. "I didn't like how we were in the middle of the second and third sets but outside of those we had a nice reaction in the fourth and we played a little bit better today."

The Lakers took the first point of the first set from an out-of-bounds serve from Brett Hagarty (Aurora, Ont.). Hagarty would get back the point in the next play with the kill. She finished with 14 kills, 21 digs and one ace. The Rams played a dominant first set, putting up 15 kills and 32 total attacks despite giving up three errors to the Lakers' one. 

The second set would be a much closer call for the Rams. Both teams would play well going back and forth on points. Early on in the set Hagarty would show the resilience common in the Rams with a spectacular save but the point would ultimately go to the Lakers. The Lakers would amp up the pressure, but the Rams would hold on for the 25-22 second set win.

"We've been really gritty," said Cailin Wark (Georgetown, Ont.). "Just good services, we've been battling whenever we can." 

The Rams just needed one more set to sweep the game. However, the Lakers came out strong in the third set and outperformed the Rams. The Lakers would go up three unanswered points early in the set, but a Lindsay Kleuskens (London, Ont.) ace would give life to the Rams. She would end with nine kills, four aces, and one solo block. The Rams would lead at the technical timeout by two points, but some bad plays toward the end of the set would give the Lakers the 23-25 set win. 

"Nipissing had a really good push back that we weren't really expecting," said Wark. "By the time that we started to come together and push back against that it was a little too late." 

Not wanting to get into a fifth set, the Rams meant business in the fourth. They came out more dominant and were able to get a strong lead early on. Wark would get three back-to-back kills to lead the Rams to an early 10-5 lead. The Lakers would show some life after that point going 6-5 against the Rams to trail by six at the technical timeout. The Rams would then show great defence, limiting the Lakers to just three points to take the set 25-13 and win the game 3-1. 

"We're trying to get better at the things we need to and prepare ourselves so that when we get into playoffs we can play our best volleyball," said Reid. 

The Rams head to Peterborough for their last road game of the season against the Trent Excalibur on Saturday, February 8 at 5:00 p.m. ET.