Trojans fend off energetic Broncos squad

OLDS, ALTA., (Jan. 25, 2020) - Olds College made things difficult for the SAIT Trojans men's volleyball team Saturday night.

In the end, SAIT came away with a very hard fought 3-1 (25-27, 25-22, 25-20, 25-23) victory in Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) action played at SAIT's Campus Centre.

"It was weird; they had us going back and forth for a while," said Trojans outside Mark Anderson (5th year, Calgary, Bachelor of Business Administration). "They came out hard in the first set and I don't really thing we expected that, but give credit to them. They have a good program that's turning around, and they fought hard tonight."

SAIT sees their ACAC record move to 16-4 on the year. The feisty Broncos fall to 4-14.

"We were tentative at points with our swinging and our serving," Anderson continued. "We couldn't get them out of their system as much as we wanted to, but we got the win at the end of the day and that's what's important."

In the opening set, the Broncos lit up SAIT Campus Centre with their energy. Every kill or block was met with cheers from the bench and even louder cheers from their fans who made the trip into the city.

When the final point was won to give them a 1-0 lead in the match, the fans roared. The energy lifted the Broncos, but Anderson said his team's maturity played a big role in keeping things calm on their side of the net.

Despite being pushed, SAIT came back to win the next three sets to end the night.

"It's sticking with what we know and sticking to the process," he explained. "We knew that at the end of the day, we were the better team. We just needed to trust that."

Jarett Noel (3rd year, Calgary, Geographic Information Systems) led the Trojans with 15 kills and two blocks. Anderson added nine kills and five digs.

Thundersky Walkingbear recorded 15 kills of his own for the Broncos.

The Trojans will now turn their attention to next weekend, when they take on the Red Deer College Kings - Friday at home, Saturday in Red Deer.