The Briercrest men’s volleyball team faced off against the Lethbridge Kodiaks tonight. Both teams tied alongside Red Deer for second place in the ACAC South division, tonight’s match was an important one to take note of. Briercrest, due to points for and against is seeded above Lethbridge, but both teams fought valiantly this evening.

For the first set, Lethbridge managed to take an early lead. They maintained control throughout the game and finished at 25-17. Briercrest had too many errors to compete in this set. Josh Wendel was effective hitting on the outside throughout the first set as well as Jachin Karg offering efficient passing and hitting.

Second set for the Briercrest Clippers found a lot more positives to take away. What began as a point-for-point affair, eventually broke as the strong serve of Jachin Karg allowed Briercrest to go up 12-5. From that point both teams fought valiantly, but Lethbridge was not strong enough to close the gap that had been created. The attack of Briercrest, non-existent in the first set, had their way with Lethbridge in the second.

In the third set both teams fought point-for-point for most of the match. Lethbridge, at about the 16 point mark, was able to start building a small lead. Playing mistake free volleyball, Lethbridge managed to tidy it up with a score of 25-19 by the end. Briercrest showed a lot of heart in the contest and had some excellent serving, however the Lethbridge block proved to be too much.

The fourth set was a battle to the bitter end. Neither team could gain an edge of more than three points. Briercrest did have control of the game in the closing points, but Lethbridge never went away. Through some great hitting out of Karg and decidedly better passing throughout the game, Briercrest was able to squeak away with a 25-23 win. The game was to be decided by a fifth set.

In the fifth set, early hitting errors allowed Lethbridge to take a lead over the Briercrest Clippers. From that point on, both teams exchanged points but Briercrest was unable to recover. A great battle overall, but the Kodiaks came out on top tonight.

The final score for the match tonight was won 3 sets to 2 (25-18, 18-25, 25-19, 23-25, 15-9) for the Lethbridge Kodiaks.

Players of the game tonight were Dax Whitehead for the Lethbridge Kodiaks and Jachin Karg for the Briercrest Clippers. Karg had a game high 18 kills and three service aces in the game.

Other prominent players on the side of Briercrest were Zac Ens with 11 kills, Jonathan Philips with a team high 12 digs, Josh Wendel with a team high three blocks to go with 14 kills and 10 digs, and Carter Reimer with a game high 48 assists.

Briercrest won almost every aspect of the game with 57-50 kills, 53-46 assists, and 6-5 service aces. Lethbridge held the edge in digs 55-53 and won the block battle 11—8.

Meet us tomorrow at 3pm to watch the men’s rematch.

If you can’t make it to the game be sure to watch online at acac.tv.

For up to date information on the Briercrest volleyball team, “like” the Briercrest Volleyball facebook page.