This afternoon, Briercrest women’s volleyball took on the Olds College Broncos for the second match in the weekend’s set of games. Coming up short last night in a riveting five sets, Briercrest looked to reassert themselves against a well-coached Olds team. Sitting at the second and third place spots in the southern conference, competition was extremely high in the Hangar. Both teams showed great resolve last night, playing mentally tough and disciplined, only to continue that at 1:00 pm today.

Briercrest took the lead early in the first set, Samantha Zacharias serving extremely well out of the gate. Attacks by Erin Anderson and Jenae Rapley, assisted by veteran setter Amanda Lundquist added to this initial surge. A couple unforced errors by the Broncos encouraged Briercrest’s momentum, heading upwards of a 10-4 score. Similar to last night’s game though, the Broncos remained mentally strong under fire and their disciplined serves kept them competitive. The teams tied up the score at 15-15 mid-set, and both teams would go point for point for the remainder of the set. Briercrest pulled away at the end, finishing with a 25-21 win.

The second set began with the same back and forth vigor that the first set ended with. Offensively, Briercrest performed extremely well, executing off of attacks and serving consistently.  Zacharias’s serves again plagued the Olds College defense, grabbing a couple of aces for her team. Mikayla Reinhardt’s strong hitting abilities, alongside tremendous blocking done by Anderson, allowed for a small lead to develop. Olds not being able to handle the front row heat, offered some free balls over to assist attacks from Whitney Zylstra and Anderson forced them into a timeout situation as Briercrest took the 15-12 lead. A service run shortly after by both Ryley Wiebe and Reinhardt pushed Briercrest to victory of the second set, 25-14 and game score of two sets to none.

The teams battled early on in the third, both struggling to find momentum. Olds took a 9-6 lead, capitalizing on some small errors on the side of Briercrest. After a time out called by Coach Nolan Weinmaster, Wiebe effectively tipped the ball over the hands of the Bronco blockers giving Briercrest a point and a couple more chances to serve their way towards tying the game up midway through the set. The teams traded point-for-point again throughout the remainder of the set, both adjusting well. Watershed blocking by Zylstra and Zacharias followed by Lundquist’s consistent serving sent Briercrest soaring to a set and game winning score of 25-21 and 3-0.

The player of the game for the Olds College Broncos was Naomi Jardine with 8 digs and 8 kills. For Briercrest, Player of the Game was Samantha Zacharias with game high stats of 14 kills and 4 aces to go with 3 digs. Other stand out players for Briercrest included Mikayla Rienhardt with 8 kills and a game high 14 digs alongside Erin Anderson with 6 kills. An exciting turn around today for Briercrest will send them into next weekend’s games at SAIT Polytechnic in Calgary with momentum.

If you are unable to make the game, you can access the game through the online broadcaster at acac.tv. Support Briercrest as they have make the 2015 playoff run!

 

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