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Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference "To be Canada's premiere collegiate athletic conference by developing and inspiring leadership through excellence in academics, sport and citizenship"
Posted: Feb 26, 2018

ACAC Men's Volleyball Championship

SAIT's Juan Becerra is mobbed by teammates after being named Player of the Game in the ACAC Men's Volleyball Championship Final Saturday night against the Keyano College Huskies
SAIT's Juan Becerra is mobbed by teammates after being named Player of the Game in the ACAC Men's Volleyball Championship Final Saturday night against the Keyano College Huskies

by ACAC Sports Writer Curtis J. Phillips

SAIT Trojans only needed nine straight sets to lay claim to the 2017-2018 Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) Men's Volleyball Championships which concluded Saturday in Medicine Hat, Alberta.

Playing in the Medicine Hat College Rattlers gym, aptly named The Snake Pit, the Trojans swept the Concordia University of Edmonton Thunder 25-20, 25-8, 25-22 on Thursday to open the three-day, eight-team, and 11-game tournament.

For the semi-finals it was a 25-21, 28-26, 25-21 shutdown of Briercrest College from Caronport, Saskatchewan.

The gold medal match featured the Trojans against the Keyano College Huskies, to whom they had lost in the bronze medal match last year in Red Deer 27-25, 25-20, 25-18.

This time around, the Trojans came back in both the second and third sets to claim their first ACAC Men's Volleyball banner since 2009-2010 defeating the Huskies 3-0 (25-20, 26-24, 27-25).

"The guys battled hard; we were down a lot again, but the guys on the court and the guys off the court working together and trusting each other allowed us to battle through a lot," said Trojans head Sean McKay in an interview with SAIT Trojans Sports Information & Media Consultant Brody Mark. "We went through lulls and hit some moments where most teams would have given up, but these guys stuck in there and fought out every single one of those sets."

Tournament MVP and Trojans' captain Trent Mounter said "It was all business" in an interview with Mark.

"You kind of look back at everything, and even from Day 1, it was all business. We knew that we had the leadership group and everyone came together. The two quick wins on Thursday and Friday really helped us, as we had fresh legs tonight, and we took advantage of that."

SAIT last won the ACAC Men's Volleyball crown in 2009-2010 when they hosted the event and defeated Briercrest College 22-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-19.

Last time a team went undefeated in a ACAC Men's Volleyball championship was in 2007-2008 when the Mount Royal Cougars beat Lakeland College 25-16, 25-20, 25-16, MacEwan Griffins 25-22, 25-17, 25-20 in the semi-finals and Briercrest 29-27, 25-23, 27-25 ) in a hard fought gold encounter.

Huskies, who had claimed ACAC bronze in 2012-2013 and 2016-2017 and silver in 2015-2016, started the 2017-2018 tournament, literally, off on the wrong foot

In their opening game Thursday against the host Medicine Hat College Rattlers, with the score tied at 1-1, right side Blazej Pellowski came down from a block and twisted his right ankle.

Pellowski, the ACAC All-Time leader in kills (1,108) and second in career service aces (161), was lost for the tournament.

"To be honest, it did not affect us that much but it did hurt us in depth but we were still focused," said Huskies coach Keegan Kuhr. "Really, it was just the next guy up and we knew that Justin (Delorme( had played for us at the position before and he good get the job done. And he had a good weekend (50 kills, 31 digs 8 blocks)."

With a ACAC-best regular season record of Matches Won 21 Matches Lost 3 Sets Won 65 Sets Lost 22, Kuhr said the Huskies' focus remained the same despite the loss of Pellowski.

"We carried the same mentality right through to the end. It is never a bad thing to be one of the top two teams in Alberta (ACAC) but our goal at the start of the season was gold, so it was disappointing as you do not get a second chance.

"Trojans made a few more blocks and a few more serves and we made too many errors and did not close out where we needed to close out."

Trojans and Huskies - as ACAC Wildcard team – are now off to the 2017-2018 Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association Men's National Volleyball Championships to be held Mar. 7-10, 2018 in Victoria B.C. and hosted by Camosun College.

Briercrest won the bronze medal 22-25, 25-18, 25-21, 25-23 over the Lethbridge Kodiaks.

Gold medal boxscore   http://www.acac.ab.ca/sports/mvball/2017-18p/boxscores/20180224_tuxd.xml

Bonze medal boxscore  http://www.acac.ab.ca/sports/mvball/2017-18p/boxscores/20180224_75s2.xml