By Wally Donaldson
The Oshawa Express

Head coach Gord Williamson just may be one volley away from bringing out a huge urn and encouraging his troops to “wake up and smell the coffee!”
Fully expecting a one-sided victory on home court with the Trent Excalibur from Peterborough as guests, the Durham Lords men’s volleyball squad was inexplicably coaxed into a lull long enough to suffer a shocking 3-2 Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) loss in a five-set marathon Thursday night.
There are still several games remaining on the agenda. However, the Lords ability to cough up a clunker in this one while handing Trent its first victory of the season was in sharp contrast to how well they played at the recent Adidas Cup at Durham and a spirited exhibition encounter against the highly-touted Knights at Niagara College.
The setback not only prevented Durham from capturing its first conference victory, it also served as a barometer for Williamson, who realizes the importance of a unified team concept.

“I honestly thought we could take Trent in three straight,” said Williamson, “but our middle got destroyed. I looked at the stats sheet and (Trent’s) middlemen generated 34 points while our two came up with 11. That sums it up right there.”
Lords did open with energy while securing a 25-20 victory. Excalibur rallied with 25-23 and 26-24 wins and were a single game-winning point from wrapping it up in the fourth set while sporting a 25-24 edge.
With Trent captain and veteran Ian Rettie at the serve line, Williamson called for a 60-second timeout.
And once that elapsed. . .he did it again!
“I don’t know what they were thinking, but they got me thinking a little bit,” laughed Rettie. “They got their game plan down and it worked.”
Rettie’s serve didn’t make it over the net, setting the table for Durham’s rally and the 27-25 win.

“Not much was happening with us, so I thought I’d give it a try,” noted Williamson of the double timeout call. “I might do that twice in a season.”