Jessica Joensen says the Durham Lords women’s volleyball team is “unstoppable.”
The team continues to prove her right.
The Lords improved their season-opening undefeated streak to six games after beating the Georgian Grizzlies 3-0 in Barrie, Ont. Nov. 14 . After winning the opening set 25-18, Durham dominated, cruising 25-7, 25-6.
Not only are the Lords 6-0, they have won 18 matches in those six games, while losing just two.
Lords point leader Althea Boncheff led the offence against Georgian with 11 kills and four aces.
Head coach Tony Clarke said the team has been working hard on and off the court to maintain its unbeaten record.
“We want to make sure that we stay healthy and compete in every game,” Clarke said. “Every team that we play against has their best team against us.”
He said the players are versatile and can adapt to different “integral” roles on the court.
“The healthy competition is there,” Clarke said. “They want to do much better than they did last year. [They will] fight for that first place position in the East as we didn’t make provincial championships last year.”
The team’s co-captains, Megan Romain and Jessica Joensen, are impressed by the team’s hard work and friendship.
“We are just one big happy family,” Romain said. “We don’t have any cliques, everyone just kind of blends together.”
The team bonds by going on “sushi dates after Wednesday night practices” and they prepare for games by listening to music, going over game plans and having team meetings with their coaches, Joensen added.
“Everyone is really equal in skill level,” Joensen said. “We’ve had a lot of new players last year and they have really come out of their shell at practice this year.”
Romain also described the team as “go-getters.”
The Lords will put their unbeaten streak on the line against the Fleming Knights (0-5) Thursday, Nov. 22 at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Centre.
