By Nick Betzing

November 23rd, 2012
MacEwan Griffins (2-4) at Briercrest Clippers (7-1)

In what promised to be an exciting matchup, the home-town Briercrest crowd was not disappointed as Briercrest defeated the Grant MacEwan Griffins in incredible fashion three sets to one (25-22, 25-21, 15-25, 25-22).

An action-packed first set saw both teams exchanging points as Briercrest and MacEwan played as close of an opening set that we’ve seen this year. MacEwan took a marginal early lead as they had the advantage at 8-10 early on. Clipper’s Carter Reimer went on to serve three straight and give his team the lead. MacEwan battled back to reclaim the lead as captain Mike Harris advanced his team to 19-17 with a kill. Briercrest fought back with kills from Cody Quiring and Kyle Pankratz as they were able to trounce the Griffins 25-22.
The second set saw much of the same, as both teams played well on both sides of the ball. Briercrest’s Kyle Pankratz had a pair of early kills to put the Clippers up 3-2. Strong serving from Steve Guenther and prompt kills from Quiring when his team needed it most, gave the home team a 16-14 lead with MacEwan giving their all to stay in the set. With the crowd behind them, Briercrest took the second set 25-21.
MacEwan was on a mission in the third set, and came out hot out of the gate taking an early 7-3 lead. Solid setting from Matthew Mohler gave the Griffin’s a balanced offensive attack and they used it at their disposal. Kills from Guenther, Pankratz and Quiring were not enough to combat the Griffins who were firing on all cylinders in a third set that they took 25-15.
The Griffin’s continued their strong play in the fourth set as they took an early lead of 11-3, leaving Briercrest with no answer for Harris’ punishing serves. Briercrest would find their groove as multiple Kyle Pankratz kills and combined blocks with Josh Wendel had Briercrest inching back. It was then Steve Guenther’s turn to return the favour as the Griffins were unable to return his serves which brought his team back from a significant deficit to tie the game at 17-17. Cody Quiring put the game away for his team with two enormous kills as the comeback set was complete and the Clippers claimed victory 25-22.

Players of the Game were Briercrest’s Cody Quiring (8 digs, 2 blocks, 2 aces, 18 kills) and MacEwan’s Matt Harris (5 digs, 4 aces, 10 kills).

Game Notes: Briercrest won the statictical game in every category except for blocks, where MacEwan had a nine to five edge. Briercrest had 57 kills, 14 service aces, and 44 digs to MacEwan’s 36, six and 40 respectively. Steve Guenther led Briercrest in two statistical categories a team high 10 digs and game high five service aces, while nobody was close to Quiring’s 18 kills.