OSHAWA, ON - To begin the new year, Durham College welcomed seven other teams from throughout Canada to the 2024 Adidas Cup, in which the Lords women's volleyball team finished fourth.

Durham kicked off the tournament on Friday with a matchup against an out of province school, taking on Mount Saint Vincent University (MSVU) from Halifax, Nova Scotia

The day began favourably for the Lords, winning the opening set 25-20. MSVU answered back with three straight wins, including two very close sets (25-23; 25-21) before soaring past the Lords in the fourth set with a 25-15 win.

Following a short break, the Lords had to get their minds right for a matchup against Montréal's André-Laurendeau, needing a win to give the hosts any hope of qualifying for the championship match on Saturday.

André-Laurendeau played tough, the Lords took the opening set 25-21 before tying the match with a 27-25 second set win. The third frame also required extra serves, this time falling in Durham's favour by a 28-26 score. Going into the fourth set up 2-1, the Lords didn't look back as they cruised to a 25-18 victory to take it in three sets and end day one with a 1-1 record.

On Saturday morning, the round robin came to an end as each team played their final match. Facing their only OCAA opponent in this stage, the Lords did their part to keep their championship match hopes alive, defeating Conestoga in four sets.

Unfortunately for the hosts, MSVU knocked off André-Laurendeau on the opposite court to secure a perfect 3-0 round robin to represent Pool A in the championship match. The Lords placed second in the group with a 2-1 record, advancing to the third place match against CMU, who also finished second in Pool B with a 2-1 record.

Humber and MSVU met for the championship match and early on it appeared to be evenly contested as Humber took the first set by a tight 25-20 result. They dominated the second set however, winning 25-14. With the match on the line, MSVU battled back and at times looked poised to win the third set, however Humber completed the sweep with a 25-22 victory to win the Adidas Cup.

Leah Serlin from Humber was named the tournament MVP, while her teammate Kennedy Williscroft took home an all-star award. Cela MacLellan earned tournament all-star honours for MSVU.

With Durham having won the last three consecutive Adidas Cup's, this is the first time that a team other than the Lords has won the annual winter tournament since Fanshawe capped off back-to-back titles in 2019.

Durham competed in the third place match against Canadian Mennonite University (CMU), who came to the tournament all the way from Winnipeg. CMU won the first two sets by 25-22 and 25-20 scores before completing the sweep with a 25-21 win.

Amy Neustater of CMU was called upon as a tournament all-star. To the surprise of nobody after an incredible weekend, Amanda Larsen (Toronto, ON) was named to the tournament all-star team on behalf of the Lords.

For full Adidas Cup results and details, please click here.

The Lords are back in OCAA action to continue their regular season campaign on Saturday, January 13 at the Campus Recreation & Wellness Centre, meeting the Canadore Panthers at 6:00 PM.

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