The Trent Excalibur women's volleyball team improved their record to 5-1 after a 3-1 victory over the Durham Lords. The Excalibur were paced by a 17-point performance by Sarah MacLaren (Renfrew, Ont.), who lead all scorers.
The Excalibur fell behind 4-0 early in the first set, but Rebecca Van Staalduinen (Peterborough, Ont.) reeled off points on eight straight serves to take the lead and force the Lords into a timeout. Following the time-out the Excalibur continued their run, eventually taking the set 25-15.
It was much of the same in second set as the Lords rolled out to a lead and Trent battled back. Using precise passing and strong defense, the Excalibur took the second set 25-21.
Neither the Excalibur nor the Lords took control early in the third set. The teams passed the lead back and forth until the score reached 17-17. It was then that the Lords took four straight points, en route to a 25-20 win.
Trent rebounded in the fourth set, jumping out to a 13-4 lead and cruising to a 25-13 win.
MacLaren's points came on six kills, three aces and eight blocks. The Excalibur also received ten kills from Emma Schlegl (Ardrossan, Alta.) and seven points each from Van Staalduinen and Sara Rettie (Newmarket, Ont.). Veteran libero Jessica Clancy (Woodbridge, Ont.) had 12 digs defensively in the win.
Top scorer for the Lords was Ashley Mulholland who had seven kills.
Trent returns to action in the first round of the battle of Peterborough. The Excalibur will visit Sir Sanford Fleming on November 26 for a 5 pm start.
Photo courtesy of Jessica Van Staalduinen
