Rattlers Stun Clippers in Comeback

The Briercrest Clippers drove into Medicine Hat to be greeted by a hungry Rattlers squad and a fresh dump of snow. The crowd slowly trickled in as game time approached. An opening Ace from Clippers rookie Reece Harder, and a long rally won again by the clippers saw them jump out to a fast start. A nice tip from the Rattlers and an ace from Mckenzie Griffith stopped the momentum early and had Medicine Hat right back in the match. The teams traded side-outs as the score slowly creeped up the board. Neither team seemed to grab the momentum as long rallies with decisive winners seemed to be the theme early. The score deadlocked at 10 the squads engaged in a long rally. Rattlers setter Jennifer Saj went down awkwardly possibly landing on someone's foot and injuring her leg. Her team rallied around this and tried to use the adrenaline for good. The Rattler offence capitalized on the next two points before allowing the Briercrest squad back into the game. The teams again found themselves tied at 15. A questionable carry was called on Rattlers replacement setter Janessa Oelke. Down two later in the set, Rattlers Coach Kim Stonehouse called for a timeout. This did not seem to help as the Clippers came out of the timeout hard. Led by setter Ashley Zacharias they expanded their lead to 5, 20-15. In a Desperate spot the Rattlers needed to string some points together. A big win on a long rally seemed to inject some life into the gym only to be drained again by a Clippers Charge. Briercrest took the First set 25-19

The second set started much like the first with Briercrest winning the first two points, one with an ace. This strong play continued early as Briercrest was able to jump out to a 9-5 lead. Rattler errors and calls were Medicine Hat's biggest downfall early as they started to beat themselves. Every time Medicine Hat seemed to be getting back into the game, a foolish mistake would sap all their momentum. Down 8-13 The Rattlers took a timeout in an effort to regroup. Two substitutions had some of the rattler's top offensive weapons out of the game in order to shake things up. The clippers were able to add to their lead, doubling the Rattlers score 18-9. A set where Briercrest was better in every aspect of the game, a domination from start to finish. A small hiccup saw the Rattlers gain some traction when the set was all but over, but the Clippers were able to close out the set with no trouble, 25-18.

The third set started out more evenly than the first two. Both teams traded service and points early and were running fairly effective attacks. The pace of play moved much quicker without the long rallies. And both sides looked much sharper in this set. The first real break in serve was a carry called on the Clippers opening up a 2 point Rattler Lead. This lead continued as teams got back to trading service and side-outs. The Rattlers made another break with a long rally won on a Mckenzie Griffith kill. With the lead now 3 the Rattlers tried to hold on with a high powered Clippers offence trying to break through. Both squads seemed close to breaking through but neither seemed to be able to quite gain that ultimate control. The Rattlers were closest holding on to a 4 point advantage late 22-18. With this advantage the Rattlers scored the next two points putting a stranglehold on the set and forcing Briercrest to take its second timeout. This only delayed the eventual Rattler win who won 25-19 forcing a 4^th set.

A long rally started the 4^th set with Briercrest wining a joust at the net. The Rattlers answered right back with a big kill. This set the stage for what was sure to be a hard fought set. With 3 quick points the Medicine Hat squad held the early advantage up 5-1 thanks to a handful of Briercrest errors. Mckenzie Griffith's early serving run was Handcuffing the clippers and helped the Rattlers out to a 7-1 Lead. A Clippers timeout iced the server who missed her next serve. This was all the Rattlers gave up as they took the serve right back and followed it up with two straight Aces. In need of some momentum, the Clippers turned to Becky Garner. Becky used her power to not only come up with a big kill but also serving up hard to pass balls. This turned the momentum back in favor of Briercrest who started to close the gap now only down 7-11. Rattlers called a timeout and were hoping to take back the momentum. Briercrest would not let up and crawled all the way back to just down 1, 11-12. 2 close calls later, the clippers tied it at 13. With the set knotted at 16 both teams looked to the next few points to gain a huge advantage late. The Rattlers were able to come up with the next two points thanks to Janelle Neyron and two amazing kills. Another point won by Medicine Hat forced the Clippers to call a timeout in an effort to come back. The Rattlers, hoping to extend the match were attacking with fury and slowly closing out the set. Not to be counted out, the Clippers were playing each point to the end and battled back to only 2 behind again. The Rattler lead down to one, Briercrest capitalized again and tied the set at 23. Missing a serve, Briercrest handed Medicine Hat the Chance to serve for the win. After a long rally, the Rattlers came away with the point and the set 25-23 forcing a 5^th and decisive set

A tip from Janessa Oelke of the Rattlers opened up the scoring in the 5^th set. This was answered by The Clippers converting on their next chance. A big block from Megan Hoeber saw the rattlers wasting no time coming back. The Clippers offence started firing again with big hits from both Becky Garner and Mia Harder saw the Clippers open up a 4-2 lead. Not wanting to allow the game to get away, Rattlers coach Kim Stonehouse called an early timeout. Coming out of the timeout, the Clippers came up with a huge block and were able to extend their lead. A momentum switch thanks to a big block saw the Rattlers tie the game back up at 5. The momentum continuing to roll, the rattlers were able to take the lead into the court switch up 2, 8-6. The teams traded side-outs as the battle continued inching closer to the end. All tied at 10, it was still anyone's match. Still tied at 13, the match could still go either way. A huge kill from Rattler Brooke Christie had Medicine hat serving for the game. Briercrest was forced to call a timeout to come up with a plan. It wasn't enough as an Amber Stigter Kill ended the game with a comeback win 15-13 and 3 sets to 2.

Your ACAC Players of the game were Briercrest's Elicia Wiebe and Medicine Hat's Shaya Suchy.