After a weekend of both home and away games, the Kodiaks’ volleyball teams were only able to produce one hard-earned win in total.
In their last games of the first semester the Kodiaks took on the Medicine Hat Rattlers.
On Friday, Nov. 25, the women’s team lost 3 – 0 to the Rattlers on the road. The individual set scores were 25 – 20, 25 – 23 and 25 – 21 in favour of Medicine Hat.
The men’s team was also unsuccessful in the Rattlers’ gym. They came up short against Medicine Hat with a 3 – 2 loss.
The first two sets went to the Rattlers with scores of 25 – 16 and 25 – 22. The third and fourth sets were a 27 – 25 and 25 – 21 win in favour of the Kodiaks. However, the Rattlers came out strong in the fifth and took the match with a 15 – 9 victory.
On Saturday, Nov. 26, it was the Kodiaks’ turn to play host to the Rattlers.
Unfortunately, the change in venue was unable to produce different results for the women’s team and they lost 3 – 0 to the Rattlers again.
The Kodiaks got off to a quick start in the first set due to some big blocks and great front row play by Hanna Minck and Alison Linton. They maintained a lead until the Rattlers staged a comeback at halfway through the set when both teams were tied at 18 – 18. Scoring was back and forth but in the end the Rattlers earned a first-set victory of 25 – 21.
The second set saw a significant amount of Kodiak errors which immediately put the Rattlers in the lead. Despite a repeated blocking performance and Brittany Noble’s strong front-row presence, the Kodiaks were unable to catch the Rattlers. After a number of long, intense rallies, the second set was won 25 – 20 by the Rattlers.
Kodiak Larrisa Carvalho stepped up and led the team in kills during the third set. However, it wasn’t enough and the Rattlers took the third set with a commanding 25 – 15 win. Players of the game went to Medicine Hat’s Julia Kryzan and Lethbridge’s Larrisa Carvalho.
The men’s game saw a reverse of Friday’s results, with the Kodiaks earning a 3 – 2 victory against the Rattlers.
The first set got off to a fast start where almost every point was earned after an extensive rally. Kodiaks Nic Dubinsky and Steve Carston were responsible for a significant amount of kills that tied the score at 23 – 23. After an intense point-for-point battle the Kodiaks earned an exciting 30 – 28 first-set win.
In the second set the Rattlers got off on a fast lead. Halfway through the set the score was 13 – 5 in their favour.
Despite Kodiak Joel Carston’s efforts in the front row, the Rattlers took the second set with a score of 25 – 18.
The third set saw a number of great blocks and sets on both sides. Tom Lyon of the Kodiaks had some impressive kills in the front row which kept them in the lead until the end of the set.
The Rattlers then staged a comeback winning the set 25 – 20.
The fourth set was another intense rallying battle despite the Rattlers’ early 13 – 6 lead.
Blocking played a major role for both teams and this time it was Kodiak Davey Lyon who led the team at the net and helped close the point gap.
After an extensive series of rallies in which the fans for both side were heavily involved, the Kodiaks came out on top with a 26 – 24 victory.
In the fifth set, despite an initial lead of 8 – 4 for the Rattlers, the Kodiaks fought their way back and tied the game at 13 – 13.
Due to another impressive performance by Nic Dubinsky, the Kodiaks earned themselves a 16 – 14 fifth-set victory to win the entire match.
Player of the game went to Medicine Hat’s Brett Wegner and Lethbridge’s Vitor Macedo.