Briercrest men's volleyball wins suspenseful 5-set game against Kodiaks

By Jeremy Siggelkow

Lethbridge Kodiak and Briercrest players stretched and awaited the referee whistle call that would commence the second weekend home game between the two teams. The Kodiaks were clearly looking for redemption from losing their last game, and the game was an incredibly close and suspenseful match, but Briercrest took the win in a suspenseful 5-set win.  

The 1^st set started off with intensity. Both teams were equally matched. But the outcome remained unpredictable the entire game. Both teams exchanged powerful spikes and powerful serves trading hit-for-hit and dig-for-dig. These exchanges led to point-to-point equal gains for both team. The Kodiaks broke the equal point-by-point exchange, rising to a 10-8 advantage. Briercest hung behind remaining only slightly disadvantaged. But the game took a drastic turn, as one of Kodiak's players was yellow-carded, and the game rushed into a suspense-filled sudden-death-overtime. A time-out was called to re-gain calm, but soon calm converted itself into energy as the crowed hovered on pins and needles unable to predict the outcome. Briercrest finally got a two-point advantage with a final score of, 30-28.

Once the energy-filled cheer of the home-game-1^st set victory came to a hush the two teams returned for the 2^nd set battle. This set was just as energetic as the 1st set, as both teams rose to a 12-12 tie remaining equal in skill, which made for another suspense-filled set that no one could predict. Shortly after, both teams advanced the scoreboard to another shocking game-tie-score of 14-14, but not long after Briercrest moved ahead leading with a score of 20-16. Briercrest seemed to prove to be the stronger team in this set, but eventually fell to defeat by the Lethbridge Kodiaks as they advanced ahead with a final 2^nd set score of 26-24. 

The 3^rd set started off with a bang. Briercrest sent the Kodiaks to their first dig, which led to the first point taking the scoreboard to 1-0. This set had lots of well-executed fake's by Briercrest, but they fell under the spell of the Kodiaks strong offensive power falling behind with a score of 11-7 for the advantage of the Kodiaks. Both teams duelled it out for the 3^rd set win, but Briercrest advanced ahead with a score of 14-13. Not long after, the Kodiaks advanced ahead but Briercrest left their efforts in the dust and stole the audiences cheer with a score of 17-15. The battle continued on for a suspenseful set end, but Briercrest's efforts fell short and they lost the set with a final score of 26-24.

The 4^th set continued on in this unpredictable suspense-filled and energetic match between Briercrest and the Kodiaks as Calvin Sawatzky and Mitch Erickson led Briercrest to a scoreboard point advantage of 3-1. Briercrest continued to lead the direction of this game working hard to attain post-game redemption from the defeat of the last set. Kodiaks fired back attempts to turn the tides of the game, but Briercrest continued to march on towards 4^th set victory with a leading score of 14-6. Eventually, the Kodiaks found a hole in Briercrest's defensive line. They advanced ahead taking the scoreboard to 15-8 for Briercrest. In the end, the set-point that led to the the suspenseful end of the 4^th set was scored by Briercrest's own with a final score of, 25-10.

The 5^th set final game tie breaker set started off as Briercrest scored the first point, then the Kodiaks took the lead, then both teams tied the game at 2-2. As suspense shot through the crowd the two tired teams battled on with endured intensity, which kept the crowd on the edge of their seats. The set broke with a scoreboard score of 8-5 for Briercrest. Then both teams switched sides. They continued to battle it out for victory until another card turned the events of the game resulting in a red card for the Kodiaks. Briercrest remained in the lead following the event of the carding and a score of 15-11 ended the 5^th-set suspenseful game resulting in a long-hard endured win by Briercrest.

The Player of the Game for Briercest was Calvin Sawatzky with 2 digs, 2 aces, 3 blocks and 5 kills.

For up to date information on the Briercrest Men's Volleyball team and Briercrest Athletics, "like" us on Facebook or at gobriercrest.ca. To watch games online go to acactv.ca