Lords basketball and volleyball teams impressive so far
Dec 11, 2009 - 04:30 AM
By Shawn Cayley
With Christmas only two weeks away, athletes and coaches from Durham College's winter sports teams have stepped away to take a little break for the holidays.
Considering their current standings, it's hard to argue against the holiday hiatus being a well-deserved break for the Lords.
The success of the men's basketball team has been well documented as they sit second on the East Region standings with an 8-3 mark, and with any luck in the second half of the season, they could challenge for first place alongside the undefeated Fleming Knights.
While things aren't so rosy right now on the women's court, as they own a mediocre 4-4 record, should they regain the early-season form that allowed them to jump out to a 3-0 start, they should, at the very least, position themselves to snag a third-place finish in their division.
On a court of another kind, though, is where Durham has been most impressive to this point in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association season.
The Shane Christopher-led women's volleyball team has the best winning percentage in either division, having earned victories in nine of 10 games this season. And on most nights they have captured those wins in quite convincing fashion. Of their nine victories, seven have come by way of sweep, including each of the last four. Thanks to their recent efforts, the Lords are now ranked fourth in Ontario and are coming off OCAA team-of-the-week honours.
Perhaps most impressive about their first half run is that it seems to have taken no time at all for the team to come together despite a 14-player roster that features seven newcomers.
On the men's side, Gord Williamson's club has been almost as impressive.
The men, too, find themselves sitting pretty in second place within the East Region standings at 7-2, trailing only the undefeated Seneca Sting. And also like the women's team, they tend to get most of their wins out of the way in a hurry, having swept aside their opponents in five of their wins.
After weeks of being overlooked, the men have also made their way into the Ontario rankings, slotting in at No. 7.
With the two basketball teams also finding themselves among the top-10 teams in the province, the men's fourth and women 10th, the outlook for 2010 appears to be a positive one.
Shawn Cayley's column appears every other Friday.
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