To say that the Durham Lords women’s volleyball team has been good this season is an understatement.
The Lords have been unbeaten through 11 games in their own conference, (at the Chronicle’s deadline).
No moment better exemplifies the Lords play as their performance at the Adidas Cup hosted at Durham College on Jan. 6-7, where they won all but one set, defeating the Loyalist Lancers in two straight for the final.
“We are actually so excited that we won that,” said Megan Romain, a second year setter on the team. She also said winning the Adidas Cup at home was a big boost to the team’s morale.
While the team feels confident, head coach Tony Clarke admits there was not a significant challenge for the Lords in the tournament.
“It was nice to win, but not all of the best teams were there,” Clarke said, adding it’s been a long time since Durham won its own tourney. “However, it was nice to come out with a win after having a 12-year drought.”
The Lords hope to keep this trend going throughout the rest of the season.
“We’ll keep on continuing to build, and try to turn that switch on because we compete well in our league and all that stuff,” Clarke said.
“So we have to turn that switch on in order to get a little bit better and to push and compete well against the west teams in the provincial championships.”
The Adidas Cup won’t breed overconfidence within the Lords, Romain said.
“We constantly know that there are things we need to improve on. Although, as a team we know we have the skills and abilities to do what we need to do to win. But there’s times that we know that we need to do something to make it even easier for us to go where we need to go without getting overconfident.”
Romain and Clarke both stressed the need for the team to remain grounded and to not let their winning ways get to their head. Romain noted the importance of making sure everyone goes to practices, remembers to train, and that everyone stays on top of their school work.
While the Lords have had a strong season up to this point, they still have a long way to go before the end of the season. Their next game will be played on Jan. 26 at home versus the Georgian Grizzlies at 6 p.m. at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Centre.
