HALIFAX, N.S. – The Durham College women's volleyball team is working out the kinks and shaking the rust off this weekend on the east coast as they play five matches over three days in Halifax.
 
On Friday the Lords opened their weekend with a 3-1 (26-24, 20-25, 17-25, 20-25) loss to the MSVU Mystics.
 
Shannon Dean (Whitby, Ont.) led Durham with 10 kills, a block and two aces. Lucia Kalmeyer (Oshawa, Ont.) was the block leader with two, alongside four kills and an ace.
 
Saturday morning against the University of Kings College Blue Devils it took five sets for the Lords to earn their 3-2 (25-14, 23-25, 25-12, 23-25, 15-2) victory.
 
Allison Marshall (Orillia, Ont.) led the team with eight kills, while adding three aces. Megan Romain (Ajax, Ont.) was dominant at the service line with seven aces and when the teams changed sides in the fifth set had served all eight points.
 
Dean picked up seven kills in the win, followed by Erinn Marshall (Orillia, Ont.) and Madeleine Elit (Trenton, Ont.) with six and five kills respectively.
 
"We opened the weekend with some positive results, while looking at numerous options for our lineup heading into the OCAA season," said head coach Tony Clarke. "With half of our players returning and half being new to the program we had an idea what we wanted to do, but the matches allowed the coaching staff to see what some of our best combinations may be this season."
 
In their first match against a Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) opponent, the Memorial University Sea-Hawks, Durham fell 3-0.
 
Allison Marshall led the offence with four kills and an ace, alongside a block. Dean added three kills and a block.
 
Against the Saint Mary's Huskies, on Saturday night, the Lords forced five sets, but fell 3-2 (10-25, 25-23, 25-16, 15-25, 9-15).
 
Dean led Durham's offence with seven kills and five aces, alongside Allison Marshall's 10 kills. Dean also led the team with three blocks, while Kalmeyer and Elit each had two blocks apiece.
 
First-year Jessica Joensen (Pickering, Ont.) had her best offensive match of the weekend five kills, while second-year libero Madison Marsh-Collis (Pickering, Ont.) had 14 digs.
 
Durham will wrap up their weekend trip with a match against the Holland College Hurricanes on Sunday at 1 p.m. at SMU before returning home to host Mohawk on Wednesday night.
 
 
QUICK LOOK AT THE LORDS
Overall Record: 1-3
Conference Record: 0-0
 
Next Game: Sunday, Sept. 25 vs. Holland College (1 p.m. @ SMU)