Briercrest defeats Lions in 4

The Lions came out roaring to start the first set.  Rookie setter Aiden McMillan and the rest of the Ambrose Lions not only finished rallies when they had the chance, but also played strong defense.  This strong defensive play resulted in Briercrest committing a number of attacking errors.  While he would ultimately be awarded the Briercrest player of the game, left side hitter Karym Coleman struggled to connect with his setter, local Calgary product Emmitt Juul-Hansen, in the first set.  While Ambrose had some amazing plays in the second set, including a huge kill by #2 Stephen Jones and perfectly executed back hand dump by setter #3 Aiden McMillan, their number of errors increased as well, making it difficult to gain momentum.  Briercrest also brought up their intensity level, decreased their errors and applied pressure through aggressive offense. 

After the second set loss, Ambrose found it difficult to regain the momentum despite a loud crowd. Ambrose struggled to limit their errors after the first set, and in the third set in particular committed 7 service errors with an additional 7 attack errors.  A couple of huge kills by Briercrest middle Jadon Ward at the start of the fourth set the tone for the rest of the game.  Briercrest totaled 15 kills in the final set, compared to Ambrose's 5.  Consistency was a struggle for the lions tonight, as after the game Paul Armbruster said, "It was great to see us start strong again in a match.  We need to keep growing in earning kills and we have to focus, compete, and execute over a longer period of time. Hopefully our team can learn from this". 

Player of the game for the Briercrest was #11 Karym Coleman and for the Lions, #2 Stephen Jones.