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Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference "To be Canada's premiere collegiate athletic conference by developing and inspiring leadership through excellence in academics, sport and citizenship"
Posted: Feb 20, 2025

Rustlers survive first-set scare against Trojans to advance to the Semi-Final

Rustlers survive first-set scare against Trojans to advance to the Semi-Final
Video Box Score
Game Leaders
SAIT
K: Sophia Ferguson - 11
B: 5 Players (#1, #3, #4, #15, #18) - 1
D: Emileigh Inglis - 10
SA: 2 Players (#4, #15) - 1
LAKE
K: Avery Bates - 20
B: Raegan Nicol - 2
D: 2 Players (#4, #8) - 10
SA: 3 Players (#7, #8, #14) - 1
Team Stats
Full stats

CAMROSE, Alta. - Having only dropped a single set this year, the Lakeland Rustlers held off the SAIT Trojans to take the match 3-1 (23-25, 25-14, 12-25, 9-25), at the ACAC Women's Volleyball Championship on Thursday afternoon at Augustana Gym.

Advancing to the conference Semi-Final, the north division's top team Rustlers will battle out with the south's second-seed team, the RDP Queens on Friday night for a shot at a third consecutive ACAC Championship. Meanwhile, the SAIT Trojans will take on the NAIT Ooks in the consolation semi.

Outside-hitting duo, Jenay Varga and Avery Bates led the charge with a combined 36 kills, while Emma Letkeman put up 30 assists. Across the court, Sophia Furguson led the Trojans with 11 kills thanks to setter Grace Florence who had 23 assists on the afternoon.

Exchanging points in the opening first set, the Trojans proved they could tussle with the Rustlers, putting the 19-0 nearly perfect team on their back foot and handing them just their second set loss on the season, 25-23. 

"SAIT executed quite well and the offence that that team is running is pretty special," said Rustlers head coach Austin Dyer. "We had to do a lot of preparation to get ready for them. They excused and scored, well we errored, but we are a veteran group with lots of experience that helped us battle through that set and take care of it after that."

However, proving why they are not only the two-time defending conference champions but also the two-time defending national champions, the Rustlers settled into the match, shaking off the slow start that has plagued them over the past month to go unanswered in three sets, and holding their opponents to just 35 points over the three set span.

"We are going to prepare the same way we do for every match," said Dyer when speaking about the team's day two competition. "At the end of the day, we have to play our style and our game."

The Rustlers will take on the Queens in a rematch of the 2022 ACAC Championship Final that saw the Queens take the crown three sets to one, tomorrow at 6:00 PM MST at Augustana Gym.