Keyano comes back

By Ryan McCracken on February 23, 2018.

srooney@medicinehatnews.com @MHNRooney

Two points into their first set at the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference championships, the Keyano Huskies lost one of their best players.

The host Medicine Hat Rattlers’ fans smelled blood when Blazej Pellowski sprained his ankle, but their team couldn’t finish off the north’s top seed in a wild 3-2 (22-25, 29-31, 25-22, 25-18, 15-10) game at the Snake Pit.

Following a memorable 31-29 second set win for the hosts, Keyano calmly took the third, then the fourth, then simply outlasted their opponents by making key plays and fewer mistakes.

“We knew Medicine Hat was going to play well at home,” said Huskies coach Keegan Kuhr, whose side faces Lethbridge in an 8 p.m. semifinal Friday. “After the second set I said guys, that is their top level. We’ve just got to stay with it. We turned it around after then.”

Medicine Hat had nothing to lose as the fourth seed from their division but wanted badly to get back to nationals, where they were third last year. It won’t happen, now relegated to the consolation side of the eight-team bracket.

“It was a great match, we played well,” said Hat coach Mark Porter, whose side will face King’s at 3 p.m. Friday. “They just happened to make the big plays when they needed to.

“It’s hard for these guys because the expectation was to go to nationals. Answering tomorrow will be tough for them. We’ll find out a lot about each guy tomorrow.”

Coming on in relief of Pellowski, Justin Delorme had 22 kills and 10 digs for Keyano.

“For him to come off the bench, he was a diesel truck,” said Kuhr. “It took a while to get him going but he was just unstoppable.”

Victor Pereira was similarly dominant for the Rattlers with 22 kills and seven digs, but Medicine Hat trailed for the majority of the final three sets.

Give them and inch and they’ll take a mile was the common theme of the day, with three South Division teams finding their legs — some later than others, but with the same results in the end.

Briercrest dropped its first set to NAIT, but were powered by a huge day from Jordan Schnitzer.

Schnitzer had nine kills, seven digs and five huge stuff blocks in an eventual 3-1 (23-25, 25-17, 26-24, 25-21) win over the Ooks. Cole Burkart had 16 kills in a losing cause for the North’s second seed.

Top seed SAIT might have started slow for their standards, but rolled to a 3-0 (25-20, 25-8, 25-22) win over Concordia, which was appearing in its first ever ACAC men’s volleyball finals weekend. ACAC player of the year Trent Mounter had five service aces, seven digs and eight kills for the Trojans.

The Trojans will play the Clippers in a 6 p.m. conference semifinal Friday. The Ooks and Thunder will play a consolation match at 1 p.m.

Lethbridge started slowest of all, dropping the first two sets to The King’s University College Eagles. They won the third set just as a busload carrying their school’s basketball team — en route to Briercrest for a game Saturday — arrived, then rode the energy wave to a remarkable 3-2 (25-27, 23-25, 25-16, 25-16, 15-13) win.

“We believed in each other,” said Lethbridge outsider hitter Carter Hansen. “(The fans) really brought that extra energy we needed.”

Hansen’s 24 kills, five aces and eight digs paced the Kodiaks. Brendan Vanderlinde had 19 kills for the Eagles.

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