By Justin Steenhof

Briercrest Clippers (6-8) vs. SAIT Trojans (6-8)

Friday January 25, 2013 featured two teams with identical records squaring off against each other….

Briercrest came out strong earning the early lead off strong serving by Amanda Lundquist and the powerful hitting of Elly Wendel. Briercrest continued to pour in the points as they jumped out to the early five point lead. The Trojans appeared rattled as their coach, Art O’Dwyer, was forced to call an early timeout.  The Clippers game continued to fire on all cylinders as Whitney Zylstra furthered their momentum with some strong blocking at the net.

 The Trojans never gave up though as they battled hard to only four with the score 18-14 and forcing a Briercrest timeout.  A kill by Wendel followed by a strong serve by Mikayla Reinhardt seemed to return the momentum back to the Clippers but the Trojans rattled off four straight points to cut the lead to two resulting in another Briercrest timeout. The teams traded points until a stuff block by Lundquist and Zylstra made the score 23-20 which resulted in another Trojan timeout. The Clippers closed out the set quickly 25-21 and taking a one to nothing set lead.

The two teams started the second set trading points back and forth with the Trojans taking the slim lead early on. Missed serves seemed to play a major roll as both teams put serves into the net early in the set. A kill by Reinhardt seemed to shift the momentum but the Trojans came roaring back to double their slim lead. However, Briercrest would not go away and chipped the lead down to two with some strong blocking and they continued to fight until they tied the set and then took the lead on a Starlet Peterson kill. Missed serves continued to be influential as both teams continued to miss serves late into the set. A kill by the Trojans gave the lead back to SAIT and resulted in the first timeout of the set by Briercrest.

After an exciting period of volleyball which featured numerous kills and blocks left the score at 22-19 in favor of the Trojans. However, Briercrest rattled off three straight points to tie the game 22-22, the third coming off a wonderful dig.  The Trojans would respond with two points of their own to take a 24-22 lead but strong serving by Channelle Friesen and a hit by Peterson helped the Clippers fend off two set points and take a 25-24 lead.  A tip by Lundquist ended the set at 26-24 and gave Briercrest the two to nothing set lead.

Briercrest took the early lead in the third set on the strong offensive play of Wendel who had two kills in the first five Briercrest points. However, the Trojans would respond and fight back to tie the game at eight. The two teams began to battle back and forth with the score staying either close or tied into the mid-point of the set. Two straight points by SAIT made the score 15-13 and forced a Briercrest timeout.  SAIT would extend their lead to four with the score 18-14 which resulted in another Clipper timeout.

Briercrest would attempt to rally back from the deficit but they just did not have enough fire power to nut a comeback. However, they did fend off three set points which forced a Trojan timeout.  The Clippers would continue their final stand as they cut the Trojan lead to one at 23-24 and forced another timeout. However, the Trojans would finish the set 25-23 and cut the set lead to two to one in favor of Briercrest.

 The teams continued where they left off as the battle was neck-and-neck with both teams exchanging points.  The Trojans took an early lead and the game stood at 10-8 as Briercrest looked to fight back. After falling 16-11, Briercrest awoke and started the comeback. The Briercrest defense was stellar as Zylstra and Erin Anderson combined for blocks to push the game to within two points. A ferocious kill by Elly Wendel completed the turn-around as the score stood at 16-16. The Clippers wouldn’t look back as both the defense and offensive sides of the ball would be at their best to defeat the SAIT Trojans in the fourth set 25-21, for a 3-1 (25-21, 26-24, 23-25, 25-21) victory.

Players of the game were Megan Brennan for the Trojans (three blocks, 12 digs, two aces, seven kills) and Amanda Lundquist for Briercrest for her outstanding setting (9 digs, a team high two aces and one kill).

Leading in stats for the game were Briercrest Brooke Peterson with a whopping 23 digs, Trojan Michelle Gauthier with 5 service aces, and Briercrest Starlet Peterson and SAIT’s Caia Morstad each had 12 kills.

Briercrest led the game in kills, digs and blocks with 51, 72 and 11 to SAIT’s 37, 59 and three, while SAIT had the advantage in serving with 14 aces to Briercrest’s eight.

If you can't make it to the gym for tomorrow's 1:00 pm  rematch be sure to follow online at SportsCanada.tv or like Briercrest Volleyball on Facebook.