Clippers Rebound after Upset

The second game of the Back to Back between the Briercrest Clippers at Medicine Hat College Rattlers came on a sunny afternoon in Southern Alberta. The Clippers came in Hoping to avenge their first loss of the season. The Host Rattlers hoped their home court advantage would continue with another upset win. The teams came out at the beginning looking sharp early. Trading side-outs to start, both offences were firing and efficient in their attack. The long rallies of yesterday were no more, replaced with quick attacks and hard kills. No real advantage formed as the teams battled back and forth the score slowly creeping up. Some impressive digs kept the ball alive from both sides but the result was often the same. The first break in the game happened for the rattlers. Setter Janessa Oelke served for 3 straight and the Medicine Hat side was up 13-10. A big block from middle Megan Hoeber saw the advantage continue in the Rattlers favor. In an attempt to stall the momentum the Clippers took a strategic timeout. It effectively stalled the Rattlers attack bringing back teams trading side-outs. The advantage gained by Medicine hat continued as they lead 18-14 late in the set. A Long rally falling in favor of Briercrest seemed to energize the squad. Using this energy the Clippers were able to start to crawl back into the game. Now only down 1,19-18, Briercrest's momentum had the Rattlers side scrambling and forced to call a timeout. The Clippers scored on a Rattlers scramble and tied the set at 19. Needing the point. The Rattlers orchestrated 3 points straight and again took control of the set. Briercrest would not roll over however, led by Outside Becky Garner the Clippers again pressed. The score tied at 23, the clippers serve handcuffed the Rattlers and lead to Ashley Zacharias to serve for the set. A long rally, and another Becky Garner kill had the Clippers come back from trailing the majority of the set to win 25-23.

The second set started much the same as the first, the teams trading side-outs run off efficient attacks. The odd long rally was the only hope for either team to break through and create some sort of advantage. These were however infrequent and the teams traded points as the score crept closer to 10. Some effective serving from Briercrest's Reece Harder saw the Clippers break through and score 4 straight to lead 10-7. This momentum had Rattlers Coach Kim Stonehouse worried as she took an early timeout to gain some momentum back. An immediate side-out helped their cause but the Rattlers could not gain back any momentum. Still pushing Hard, Medicine Hat battled for every ball, not losing on effort. The Clippers talent shone through on this day as their talent was evident in the second set. Very few mistakes allowed them to maintain their lead where mistakes were costing the Medicine Hat side. Too many errors in a row saw the Rattlers down 5 (18-13) and using their second timeout. This was simply not enough as the Clippers continued to roll. Now 21-14 the Clippers had firm control of the Set. Too much to handle, the Clippers Handily took the second set 25-15.

Down 2 sets to 0, the Rattlers needed to mount another comeback to have any chance. The Clippers however, had other ideas. Coming out hard, Briercrest jumped out to another early lead. Their defense impeccable, the Clippers were digging up everything but a perfect Rattlers attack. This defense helped them jump out to a 9-4 lead, forcing an early timeout. Medicine Had came out of the timeout swinging hard but still committing too many errors against such a skilled team. Trying to chip away little by little the Rattlers faced an uphill climb. The lead up to 6, Medicine Hat was forced to bring in a substitution. Unfortunately this did nothing as the Clippers continued to score thanks to some amazing serving from Reece Harder. Her hard float serve was handcuffing the Rattlers as they could not make an effective pass with her behind the line. This inability to bass affected their offence who continued to make unforced errors. With the score 20-10 Briercrest the match was all but over. Able to trade side-outs for the remainder of the game, the score ended up 25-15 and 3 sets to none for Briercrest.

The Players of the game were Janelle Neyron for MHC and Reece Harder for the Clippers.