Durham Lords women’s volleyball outside hitter, Allison Marshall, recorded her 1,000th point in her college volleyball career during a 3-0 win over the Centennial Colts on Jan. 28. Marshall and the Lords are still undefeated and will be strong contenders for the Ontario College Athletic Association (OCAA) championship.
Marshall achieved this feat over the course of five years playing for two different teams, the Georgian Grizzlies and the Durham Lords. She amassed 615 points over the course of three years with the Grizzlies and over 389 with Durham so far.
Marshall, now studying Sports Management believes her play evolved after leaving Georgian College and coming to Durham.
“As soon as I came here to Durham I changed positions, I had a new coach, had new girls to play with, it was completely different, but I think my mentality about the game changed the most. It went from being super fun and I had a couple of rough years where I felt you know it wasn’t for me and then when I came to Durham I just got it back and I started to have fun again,” said Marshall.
Marshall’s love for volleyball started as a child.
“That was just what everyone did, and when I got to high school I kind of had to choose what I wanted to do, if it was either basketball or badminton or soccer, I just always had a love for volleyball and it was always the most fun to me so I thought I would pursue that,” said Marshall.
She needed only eight points against the Colts, yet she got 10 kills, an ace, and a block, totalling 12 for the night and 1,004 overall.
“She’s got a lot of experience…and it’s her last year, and she wants to go out in her last year with a bang…and so she’s very focused that way, hopefully she can maintain that and push when we need her the most,” said Tony Clarke, Durham Lords women’s volleyball coach.
With the win over the Colts, the women’s team has officially clinched a spot in the playoffs with a record of 14-0, and will play for the women’s volleyball championship in Windsor, Ont. on Feb. 24.
“I’ve always told the girls that I’m not coaching to win the east I’m coaching to win the medal at provincials,” said Clarke.
With the conference season almost over, the players begin to look forward to the championship and what it will take to win the medal.
“It would take a lot of team cohesion, and us not getting frustrated when we do lose a set…we need to just get back in the game, and just do what we need to do to win,” said Durham setter, Megan Romain.
