NORTH BAY, Ont. – The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold women's volleyball squad were unable to hold the Nipissing Lakers' red-hot attack in check on Friday, falling in straight sets by scores of 15-25, 19-25, 15-25.
Nipissing's offensive versatility and dominance from the base line helped lead the home side to their fourth-consecutive victory on Friday and hand the Bold their 10th straight loss.
Paige Owen, Anne Marie Horvat and Oceane Raymond-Leduc finished the match with 12, 11 and 10 kills respectively while the Bold relinquished a season-low 12 service aces in the defeat.
Darcie Buchanan paced the Bold's offensive group with five kills while Kaiya Krahn, Hannah Bellai and Julia Breen each blitzed the home side of the court for four kills.
The Bold quickly fell into a hole in the early goings of the opening set, trailing 9-3 as Marie Horvat rang off a pair of early service aces to tilt the momentum into Nipissing's favour.
The six-point deficit proved too big of a challenge for the Bold to overcome, opening the door for the Lakers to close out the set with a 5-1 run and feature another pair of serves go uncontested for the home side.
TMU finally broke through in the middle frame through Breen's first kill of the match to throw the Bold into a 7-6 lead. The Lakers swiftly answered to their first deficit of the night with a 5-2 run to renew their advantage and kickstart an offensive showing the Bold were once again unable to reel themselves out of.
Another tumultuous run, their latest to the tune of seven-consecutive points, helped the Lakers pull away in the middle frame but not without a scare in the closing stages. A late 6-1 run by the Bold–their longest of the night–cut the visitor's deficit to 24-19 before being rendered to just a warning as a service error by Krapp sealed the deal on Nipissing's 2-0 stranglehold.
The home side failed to relent in the final frame, jumping to a 7-2 lead that featured four of Nipissing's hitters picking up a kill. Bellai provided the Bold's only serious form of defense off the bench, finishing the frame with a set-high four kills but struggling to pair her successes with any sort of momentum to challenge the Lakers in the eventual 25-15 defeat.
The Bold will return to action on Saturday, closing out their weekend series with the Lakers on Saturday at 2 p.m. The Bold will have to pick up wins in each of their remaining five contests to have a shot at taking the eighth and final spot in the OUA playoff picture. Watch Saturday's contest on OUA.tv.
