Clippers Clip Rattlers

A Cold front brought frigid temperatures to Medicine Hat as the Briercrest Clippers came to town. The game got off to a slow start with a few service errors and both teams trying to find their offence. Clippers outside Hitter, Janae Rapley got off to a strong start with early Kills and serving for 3 points. Despite this the Rattlers kept the score even at 10. A timeout from the Rattlers attempted to stop another strong push by the clippers offence highlighted by great ball movement from setter Ashley Zacharias. The Rattlers battled back pulling the score back within 2 with 2 consecutive kills from Brooke Christie, trailing 16-18. The Rattlers continued to push but the Clippers squad continued to hold them at arm's length from the lead. Just squeaking out the win 25-23
The second set started with Rattler Brooke Christie serving two points before a Clippers side-out. This did not turn into any momentum as Briercrest evened the set immediately. The Rattlers setter Janessa Oelke was subbed out following a few questionable double hit calls on the set, she was replaced by Rachel Stewart. Now losing the momentum, Rattler coach Kim Stonehouse called a timeout in an attempt to stop the Clippers run. The Clippers Offence seemed too much for the Rattler offence until Rachel Stewart stepped in to serve. A 5 serve run evened up the game at 15 as the clippers could not seem to generate any offence off her serve. Following an error from Medicine Hat, the Clippers jumped out to another 5 point lead on the back of the connection from Ashley Zacharias to Samantha Zacharias. With Samantha Zacharias hammering home the winner to take set 2, 25-20.
The Third set opened up much faster than the prior 2. With both teams offence finally clicking, some impressive digs were the story for the first few points of the set. Samantha Zacharias continued her dominance with 3 serves impossible for the Rattlers to pass up, and helping the Clippers out to a 5-1 lead. This Forced Medicine Hat College coach Kim Stonehouse to call a timeout in an attempt to stem the bleeding. When Samantha was not in the front row, hitter Janae Rapley filled in blowing spikes through the rattler blocks. The Clippers seemed too much for the Rattlers on this day as Medicine Hat struggled to claw their way back into the set. Up by 7, The clippers brought in 1st year setter Kaitlyn Dyck and hitter Mia Harder. This didn't seem to make any difference as Briercrest continued to cruise, Closing out the Decisive Set 25-16.