The evening started off with Briercrest fans having a pep rally in the Hangar to get the fans and the Briercrest women’s volleyball team pumped. The women took on the ACAC South division third place team, Olds College. 

Briercrest lost the first set but then defeated Olds in the next three to win the match 3-1 (22-25, 25-19, 25-23, 25-12).

Olds started off the match by taking an early lead. Both teams battled hard making for long, high-energy rallies between each other. Briercrest stayed behind but only by a few points. Olds later called timeout at 15-14 for Briercrest after Sam Zacharias led the team to getting four points in a row. Briercrest worked hard till the last point in the set but was unable to keep the lead. The set ended with a score of 25-22 for Olds.

The second set started off similar to the first set with Briercrest trailing behind. Not long after though, Briercrest caught up and both teams battled point-for-point. After key defensive plays, Briercrest took the lead. Olds felt the pressure forcing them to call timeout at 13-11. Olds was unable to kill Briercrest’s momentum as Briercrest continued to add to their lead. The set ended with a score of 25-19 for Briercrest.

Olds came into the third set showing they were not ready to lose by taking an early lead again. This forced Briercrest to take an early timeout with a score of 7-2. Briercrest came back from the timeout with new energy and started to close the gap. With well-fought rallies and key defensive and offensive plays, Briercrest was able to gain the lead. Olds called timeout at 17-16 but Briercrest continued to make a bigger gap afterwards. Olds started to close gap, making Briercrest feel the pressure and to call timeout at 22-21. Tension was high in the Hangar as Briercrest held on to try and win the close set that would put them in the lead. Briercrest kept hold of their small lead and won the third set 25-23.

Briercrest carried their momentum into the fourth set allowing them to take an early lead. Olds called a timeout at 10-6 as they felt the pressure of needing to win the set to force another one. Briercrest continued to make amazing plays to allow them to increase their lead. Olds called timeout once again at 18-9 in hopes of being able to gain their own momentum and close the gap. Briercrest was able to carry their large lead till the end and claim the fourth and final set 25-12.

Mikayla Reinhardt was awarded Player of the Game by Briercrest Associate Professor of New Testament Susan Wendel. Reinhardt had 13 digs, 1 assist and a game high of 13 kills. Reinhardt also had a team high of one block along with Kathleen Bruce and Janae Rapley. Ashley Zacharias had a game high of 44 assists along with Sam Zacharias having a game high of five service aces. Rapley had a game high of 18 digs.

Briercrest dominated Olds in the stats category with 52-29 kills, 48-26 assists, 10-3 service aces and 74-67 digs. Olds had 6-3 blocks in the match.

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