Keyano comes from behind to beat hometown Rattlers
The Final Match of the evening saw the Tournament Host Medicine Hat Rattlers welcome the Keyano Huskies into the Snake Pit. The Rattlers Hoped to use their sold out home crowd to gain momentum and upset the number one ranked Huskies. The Rattlers used the energy in the gym right out of the gate. To jump out to a lead approaching the middle of the set. Up 16-12 the Rattlers hoped to hold this momentum into the later parts of the set. The energy of the crowd seemed to turn up the play on the court from the Rattlers. Medicine Hat opened up a 20-15 lead Forcing the Huskies to take a timeout to settle the troops. This worked for the Huskies as they closed the gap to 2 forcing Medicine Hat into a timeout situation. The Rattlers converted the sideout and moved closer to taking the First set. Th Huskies would not quit battling for every ball trying to keep everything alive. Keyano closed the gap on the Rattlers putting pressure on them with everything they had. The Rattlers edged out the Huskies in the first 25-22.
The Second set was almost a mirror of the First. Teams traded sideouts for the first few points until the Rattlers opened up a small lead with some strong passing and saved balls. The Huskies stayed right with the Rattlers overtaking them at 8 points. Keyano continued their strong play into the middle of the match trying to pull away were matched point for point by the Rattlers. The teams were knotted at 17, neither team able to pull away at all. With the Rattlers taking a one point lead 21-20, the Huskies called a timeout in an effort to even the sets at one a piece. The teams traded points and the Rattlers took a 24-23 lead and the Kodiaks took their second timeout. This timeout swung the momentum back to the Kodiaks favor who took a 25-24 lead. Teams traded side outs with the Kodiaks maintaining service advantage. The Rattlers Gained the advantage on a Big hit From Vitor Pereria at 29 a piece. The Rattlers won the next point on a long rally winning the game 31-29.
The third set opened with an eruption of emotion. Some of the Craziest digs of the season happened within the span on a minute. Both teams dug up balls that should have hit the floor. The Rattlers seemed to have more of these digs and were able to get the crowd involved and loud. The Huskies stayed right with the Rattlers, never letting them gain an advantage. Alfred Dalevik stepped in to serve for the Rattlers, serving three straight and helping the Rattlers re-take the lead. This was short lived as Keyano gained back the Serving advantage right away. Teams exchanged kills back and forth with neither team gaining any advantage one way or another. Unforced errors mounted for both teams, threatening to be their undoing. The Huskies earned a Set Point by scoring two straight late. Up 24-22, The Huskies had two chances to close out the set and force a fourth. They only needed one as they took the third 25-22.
The Fourth Set opened with a 3-0 run for the Keyano Huskies. The Rattlers Needed to Get back into the game before it got out of reach early. The Huskies had other ideas jumping out to an even bigger lead up 9-4. The Rattlers appeared defeated already on the court, down by so much so early. This Momentum swing allowed the Huskies to get out to a 10 point lead up 15-5. The Rattlers finally seemed to wake up, rattling off 4 points before sacrificing the serve. The Rattlers slowly chipped away forcing the Huskies to call a timeout. The Rattlers down 20-14 were quickly running out of time to mount a comeback in the set. Keyano up 23-17 simply needed to trade sideouts for the set victory. The Huskies simply were too much forcing the 5th set by winning 25-18.
The 5th and deciding set saw the Crowd erupt with noise at the start of the set. For both teams a potential trip to nationals on the line. The Teams seemed to dig deep and find a new energy for the last set. Keyano jumped out to an early 4-2 lead after 2 Rattlers errors. This lead expanded still with the Huskies using a Rattler block. An apparent missed call in favor of the Huskies caused an uproar in the gym. This seemed to bring life back into the gym as they tried to will the home squad back into the game. Down by 4 the Rattlers now needed a service streak to crawl back into the match. Unfortunately for the home squad the Huskies were too much on the day winning 15-10 and 3 sets to 2.
The ACAC players of the game were Chad Sieben for Medcine Hat and Justin Delorme for Keyano.