Briercrest College capitalizes on the seventh man to take first win of the CCAA Volleyball Nationals Championships

Emotion ran deep as Briercrest played a strong defensive game to take their opening match defeting Douglas College Royals 3-2 (25-20, 24-26, 22-25, 25-20, 15-10).

Both teams came out strong in their first games of the tournament. While both teams were consistent in the first set, the turning point came as Briercrest got an extra three points on Douglas mid-way through the set to go ahead 16-13. The first set went to Briercrest 25-20.

The second set was an intense battle for both Douglas and Briercrest. Briercrest clearly came with their best defensive game as their blocking was exceptional. A standoff at the end of the set left both teams sitting at 24-24. Douglas eventually took the set 26-24.

Douglas really laid on the heat in the third set taking an early lead of 7-3. One of Briercrest’s main problems was  they were plagued with service errors throughout the set giving the advantage to Douglas, taking the set 25-22.

It was Briercrest’s turn to bring on the heat in the fourth set. The set was fairly even as points went back and forth and both teams playing their top game. With Briercrest leading 24-20 and  Steve Guenther up to serve, the crowd went silent. Following an amazing serve and a battle to take the set. Briercrest took the set 25-20

The near capacity crowd at Yara Centre was boisterous as Briercrest looked to win the match to advance to the next round of the championship. With support from a great fan base, Briercrest was the more dominant team in the first half of the set playing a strong defensive game. As the game continued the crowd grew in intensity and the Briercrest brought the win home. Briercrest took the set 3-2 and the match 15-10.

Briercrest player of the game Carter Reimer said “the key to success, I think, it was definitely the serve/pass battle. I think that was the game plan going in and our coaches really stressed that. I think we did a fantastic job and our back three passed amazingly, they had a great night.”

Briercrest head coach, Nigel Mullan said “we’re excited about our match up (Friday). Mohawk is going to be a tough team so it’s not going to get easier. This was a huge quarter final match for us. but we got focus again really.”

Players of the game were Douglas College’s Drew Ruby with 16 kills and 18 digs, and Briercrest College’s Carter Reimer with five kills, one ace and 11 digs.

Briercrest College had 65 kills (.444) while Douglas College had 49 (.400). Briercrest had three aces while Douglas had two. Briercrest got 90 digs while Douglas had 78.