Clippers Remain Perfect in Medicine Hat

The Undefeated Briercrest Clippers headed into the Snake Pit to take on the Medicine Hat College Rattlers. The Clippers were able to get off to a fast start taking an early lead. The Rattlers struggled to convert offensively scoring on only 2 kills in their first 8 points, the rest coming off Clippers errors. The Clippers had almost doubled the Rattlers point total, leading 17-9 and forcing Medicine Hat to take a timeout. Briercrest was up big early and didn't show any signs of slowing down in the first set. The Ratters looked sloppy on offence and were not able to put together anything powerful or timed well through the whole first set. The Clippers cruised to a 1^st set victory 25-13 and taking the first set.

The Second set started with the Rattlers able to open up a quick 3-1 lead before the Clippers quickly answered. With Reece Harder and Mia Harder at the net, the Clippers came right back and took a 6-4 lead with the help of some excellent blocking. From here Briercrest took over again, going up 10-5 in a blink of the eye. From here the teams started to trade side-outs as the score worked its way up the scoreboard. Briercrest continued to hold the Rattlers at arms length, answering every Rattler point with one of their own. Late, Briercrest was up 20-14 very close to closing out their second set. Able to easily cruise to a second set victory, the Clippers won 25-17 Taking a 2 sets to 0 lead.

Medicine Hat needed to find something and fast if they wanted to come back into the set. Opening the set with a big kill was a positive, but letting a roll shot in on the next play was not. Medicine Hat and Briercrest traded side-outs early with errors coming from both sides of the net. The teams were tied at 4 early with neither team having any sort of advantage. From here the Rattlers were able to rattle off 4 straight and take an 8-4 lead before the Clippers could answer. The Clippers started to come back back and chip away at the Rattler lead as the set move into the middle portion, The Rattlers fought back to re-establish their 4 point lead and forced the Clippers to take their first timeout of the evening. Coming out of the break the Clippers fought back to trail by 2, 14-12. They eventually tied the set at 15 before the Rattlers could once again hold serve twice to take an 18-15 lead entering the late stages. Medicine Hat held their advantage, up 20-18 they hoped to hold off the Clippers to extend the match to a fourth set. The Clippers came back to tie the set at 20. The teams traded side-outs as the scoreboard read 22-22. The Rattlers scored the next 2 to lead 24-22 forcing the Clippers to take a timeout. The Clippers used this break to come back and tie the set at 24. The Rattlers Brooke Christie got a hard kill, giving her team the chance to serve for the set. They needed only one serve as the Rattlers stole the 3^rd set 26-24

The Clippers opened the fourth set with 2 quick points to open a small advantage early. Up 4-1, Briercrest looked to end the match in 4. The Rattlers looking to extend the match further, battled especially hard to dig up balls on the back end. Still, Briercrest was able to convert on offence going up 9-3 early in the set. Medicine Hat was having a hard time putting the ball on the floor and could not catch up to the Clippers High powered offence. They maintained their 6 point lead as they passed the mid-point in the set. Down 13-7 the Rattlers took a timeout in an effort to regroup and try to make their way back into the set. This did not help especially as the Clippers continued to out-pace the home side going up 18-9. Medicine Hat started to go on a bit of a run late, slowly chipping away at the Clippers lead. The Rattlers chipped away to down 17-21 forcing the Clippers to take a timeout. Out of the break, the Clippers converted the next two points to put a stranglehold on the match 23-17. This forced Medicine Hat to take their final timeout. The Clippers cruised scoring again, one point away from victory. They took the 4^th set 25-18

The ACAC Players of the game were Mia Harder from Briercrest and Shaya Suchy for MHC