The second game between the Briercrest Clippers and Medicine Hat Rattlers took place today with Briercrest hosting the game and just coming short of another win against Medicine Hat. The first set was won by the Rattlers (25-23), the second set was taken by Briercrest (25-21), the third won by the opposition (25-17) and the fourth for the Rattlers again with a final score of 25-21. Briercrest fought hard and had many positives from the game.

The first set of the game began in a back and forth style, points changing between a tie game and a one-point lead. Big hits by Zac Ens and Jachin Karg kept Briercrest close. Briercrest began forcing the opposition to make errors that closed the level of points between the teams. Josh Wendel got his third block that helped keep the Rattlers points down. The Rattlers were able to grab the last couple of points and won the first set 25-23.

The second set of the game was back and forth, as per usual, until Briercrest began to pick up the points after a kill by the Clippers then a block by Karg. They held the lead 13-9 and continued to move up from there, which made the Rattlers call a time-out. The back-and-forth game continued but because of the points won previously Briercrest maintained their lead until the end when they came out victorious with a final score of 25-21.

With each team having won one set each, the third set was unpredictable. The Rattlers took the initial lead at 7-1 till Briercrest got the serve back. Briercrest went on a streak and continued forward till they reached an 8-8 tie, then gained the points following the tie as well. The Rattlers picked up a small lead and Briercrest called a time out at 17-13. Joel Rosewarn blocked a spike from the Rattlers and got the serve back for his team. The Clippers were unable to win the set and finished with 17.

Briercrest came into the fourth set strong and rapidly gained a lead that did not dissipate with ease. The home team fought hard and lost the lead by a few points, but kept it within two points. Jonah Johnson pushed the ball over and got the serve back for Briercrest. The lead unfortunately couldn’t be grabbed by Briercrest and the Rattlers won the fourth set and match 25-21.

The players of the game for the Medicine Hat Rattlers was number 9 Bobby Hamilton and for the Briercrest Clippers who had 1 ace, 8 kills and 7 digs was Jonah Johnson. Josh Wendel had 10 kills and a game high 15 digs and four blocks and Zac Ens had a game high 14 kills.

Briercrest’s next game is January 16-17 at Lethbridge College.

If you are unable to make it out to support Briercrest live, access acac.tv where you can find the online broadcast there. For up to date information on the Briercrest volleyball team, “like” the Briercrest Volleyball facebook page.