By Nolan Weinmaster

A

small college in Caronport, Sask. is going to represent the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference at the national championships in Quebec.

The Briercrest College and Seminary Clippers men’s volleyball team captured its first ever ACAC championship title yesterday in Edmonton.

They defeated the third ranked Red Deer Kings in straight sets. The Clippers were hitting on all cylinders yesterday, playing their best match of the conference championship tournament.

The number one seeded Clippers came out with intention and strong execution right from the opening serve.

Coach Nigel Mullan was ecstatic at the way his team kept executing the game plan and played better as the tournament progressed.

“Our execution level just got higher as the weekend went along,” he said.

Briercrest was in control from start to finish, winning the first set 25 – 20. They then put forth a dominating performance in every aspect of their game, to take the second set 25 – 15. Red Deer came out with a strong push in the third set and led 18 – 14 but a couple of key digs, some great transition offence and aggressive serving helped the Clippers claw back into a 20-19 lead. The Clippers never looked back, exchanging points and winning 25 – 23. The final kill was by fifth-year veteran Colin Kubinec.

All-Conference left side Scott Lesher was named player-of-the-game, putting up 13 kills and 12 digs for the Clippers. Trevor Klassen, the Clippers other All-Conference team representative, ran a well-balanced attack and had all of his weapons firing, as his hitters put up 42 kills in the three set match! Joel Dyck contributed in a big way with his 15 kills from the right side. Zac Ens and Blake Proudfoot were a force in the middle, as they dominated early on to set up the way for the outside hitters’ success later in the match. Ens finished with seven kills and four blocks, while Proudfoot contributed five kills and two blocks.

Red Deer’s All-Conference team member, Taylor Hunt, who led the ACAC in kills during the regular season, had 16 kills in the loss. The player-of-the-game for Red Deer was captain Darcee Froese, with eight kills and a service ace for the silver medalists.

With the ACAC Championship title, Briercrest now looks ahead to the CCAA National Championships, which take place in Sherbrooke, Que., from March 9 -12th. The Clippers will be the ACAC representative and will likely be ranked first or second going into the tournament.

The format is the same as the ACAC tournament, with eight of the best teams from across the country coming together to compete for the national title. The rankings and draw will be released later this week. Red Deer will also be attending nationals as a wild card representative.

For more information contact: Nigel Mullan, Head Coach Stan Peters, Athletic Director 306-631-0337 306-630-6264