Briercrest’s Women’s Volleyball team’s hunger for victory was temporary satisfied as they preyed on the Grande Prairie Wolves, resulting in an intense 3-1 victory (25-18, 25-19, 15-25, 32-30).

The first set opened with the teams matching one another stride for stride, 5-4 foe Grande Prairie. Whitney Zylstra served two aces within five points, creating momentum for Briercrest to lead 10-6. Briercrest dished out aggressive attacks, claiming the first set 25-18.

Briercrest’s player of the game, Mikayla Reinhardt pointed out the team’s first set win relied heavily on Briercrest’s aggressiveness, and sticking with their game plan. “We just kept going after them,” she said.

The second set was filled with many good rallies, proving a hard-fought battle. Grand Prairie opened with an early 5-2 lead. Elly Wendel’s string of serves brought Briercrest back up 6-5. A collective of attacks brought Briercrest up 15-10. Grande Prairie came from behind , nearly catching Briercrest 16-15. A series of exciting kills and serving by Amanda Lundquist closed out a well-deserved set win, 25-19.

Briercrest matched pace with Grande Prairie throughout the third set, behind only 10-13. From there Grande Prairie was a runaway team, pulling ahead 18-10. Briercrest fought to come back but was unable to maintain momentum, losing the second set 15-25.

Reinhardt thoroughly enjoyed the challenge Grande Prairie brought. “It was so much fun,” she said, “even with that third set… I was so proud of [the women], coming out again in the fourth set and just pushing back and pushing back; it was great.”

Grande Prairie’s momentum continued into the fourth set, taking a 5-1 lead at the start.

Reinhardt commented, “it’s all mental at that point. Yeah it’s skill, but if you get down on yourselves, there’s no way you’re [winning].”

Briercrest caught up 6-6 and it was a nail-biter from there on out. Briercrest’s front row brought the heat with strong attacking forcing Grande Prairie to bring their best game. 25-25 came and went, both teams matching one another’s points, hungry for a win. Tied at 30-30, two consecutive kills by Wendel broke Grande Prairie defense and Briercrest won 32-30.

Reinhardt said she was just thinking “don’t mess up,” at the same time staying focused on the goal. “Just trying to stay calm and level-headed and not freak out,” she laughed.

Players of the game were Grande Prairie’s Kate Porta with the team high 12 kills, two aces, and 14 digs and Briercrest’s Mikayla Reinhardt with 11 kills, three aces and game high 27 digs.

Briercrest had 56 kills and Grande Prairie had 39. Briercrest had 13 aces and Grande Prairie had seven. Briercrest got 95 digs while Grande Prairie got 77.

This was Briercrest’s final game of the semester and they open the New Year in Lethbridge, January 10 at 6:00pm and January 11 at 1:00pm.

 Games will be streamed online at Sportscanada.tv, and the Briercrest Volleyball facebook page.