Durham College sweeps the nationally ranked Algonquin Thunder


OSHAWA, Ont. – The Durham College men's volleyball team knocked off the No. 9 ranked Algonquin Thunder Friday night with a 3-0 sweep at the CRWC.

Set scores in the match were 26-24, 25-23 and 25-21.

The score line did not reflect how close this match was as the teams traded points back and forth for almost two hours. However, Durham was always one step ahead as they handed the Thunder their first loss of the season.

The Lords held a 24-20 advantage in the first set, but hard serving from Algonquin's Phillippe Yeldon got the visiting squad back in the set with four straight points. After a time-out, Durham was able to rebound picking up the next two points to go ahead 1-0.

The next two sets were mirror images of the opener with Durham winning by a close margin. In the deciding set, senior Jeremy Hoekstra (Cobourg, Ont.) put the game away with one of his seven kills for the win. Hoekstra was successful on over half of his attacks as he had seven kills on 13 attempts while putting away four big blocks.

Alex Van Staalduinen (Peterborough, Ont.) was Riley McAllister's (Oshawa, Ont.) favourite target as he had eight kills to go along with nine digs and one ace. Brad VanHartingsveldt (Newcastle, Ont.) and Luke Kilbourn (Ingeroll, Ont.) had six kills apiece in the win.

Dan Popovich of Pickering had a big night on defence as he had 10 digs. McAllister finished with 25 assists.

Patrick Goulet led the way for Algonquin with 12 kills while Yeldon finished with 10.

Friday's win was big for Durham after losing to George Brown (4-1) last weekend in Toronto. The Lords and Thunder are both 2-1 to start the season.

Durham will be back on the court on Saturday night as they host the La Cite Coyotes (1-1). Game time at the CRWC is at 8 p.m.

A QUICK LOOK AT THE LORDS
Overall Record: 7-6
Conference Record: 2-1

Next Game: Sat. Nov. 9 vs. La Cite

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