Trojans hungry to close out semester with win

CALGARY, ALTA., (Dec. 4, 2019) - The SAIT Trojans men's volleyball team wasted little time in starting their holiday break.

The Trojans dominated the Ambrose University Lions on Wednesday night, beating them 3-0 (25-18, 25-15, 25-11) in their Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) first semester finale at SAIT's Campus Centre.

"We were pretty desperate for a win," said Trojans setter Maddux Greves (2nd year, Calgary, Bachelor of Business Administration), whose team lost three in a row coming into the game. "Those were tough games, and obviously we didn't perform in them, so it was really big close out the first semester with a good performance. Hopefully, we stay this hungry in the second semester."

SAIT closes out the first half with a 10-4 mark, which puts them in second place in the ACAC's South Division. 

Earlier in the season, SAIT was ranked No. 1 in the country by the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA). Because of the three-game skid, they have fallen to No. 15.

"I think we're a pretty motivated team right now," said Greves, who recorded 29 assists and four service aces in the win. "We were No. 1, and now we're No. 15, and I think that may have lit a fire under us."

SAIT seemed to get stronger as the game went on, and Greves credited that to a bit of a change the team made.

"Our middles - this is the most I have set middles thew whole year," he said with a smile. "I think that's a testament to how hard we worked in practice the last two weeks . . . The game plan was to run as much middle and pipe ball as I could, and then release from there."

Riley Grusing (3rd year, Calgary, Civil Engineering Technology) recorded eight kills and four blocks for the Trojans.

Josh Nickel and Mark Fountain each led the Lions with seven kills apiece.

SAIT will return to action in the new year, when they host the Briercrest College Clippers for a pair of games on Jan. 10 and 11.