Rattlers bounce back

By Ryan McCracken on November 9, 2018.

rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com @MHNMcCracken

The Medicine Hat Rattlers are back in the win column.

After dropping two straight games last weekend in Red Deer, the Rattlers women’s volleyball team returned home for a rare Thursday night rivalry matchup with the Lethbridge Kodiaks and cruised to a convincing straight sets victory (25-22, 25-13, 25-17).

“That was really important for us, to bounce back,” said Rattlers head coach Kim Stonehouse. “I thought the girls handled themselves really well. You don’t like to lose, but if you’re going to, you want to see your team do what we did tonight.”

The victory snapped Medicine Hat’s small skid — pushing the Rattlers to 3-4 on the Alberta Colleges Athletics Conference season — while extending Lethbridge’s losing streak to eight games.

“We’re just working hard to try and stop our losing streak,”said Kodiaks outside hitter Carley Doneff, a former McCoy Colt. “It’s definitely a special one for me because I’m from here, this is my hometown. We were really looking forward to coming out with the W, we just couldn’t pull through.”

Amber Stigter led Medicine Hat’s attack with 11 kills, while Shaya Suchy powered the defence with 11 digs and MacKenzie Griffith, and Brooke Christie both added two blocks.

With the Kodiaks (1-8) itching to break their losing spell, Rattlers middle Megan Hoeber says getting the first set was crucial.

“That was big for our momentum. It kind of put them down a little bit,” said Hoeber, who had three kills and a block. “After last weekend everyone knew we could play better than we did and to see it on the court tonight really helped.”

The Kodiaks were held to just 24 kills in the loss, seven of which came from Laura Serafini. Andie Curran led the defence with four digs.

The Rattlers and Kodiaks go back at it Saturday in Lethbridge at 6 p.m.

“It’s always important to play well against Lethbridge,”said Stonehouse. “They’re one of those teams that can be the toughest to play against because you never know when they’re going to find their rhythm.”

TheRattlers men’s volleyball team was unable to repeat the feat later Thursday evening, falling to the Kodiaks instraight sets, 25-21, 25-23, 25-18.

KeAndre Evans had a game-high 13 kills for Medicine Hat (5-2) and Nikola Sreckovic added six digs, but it wasn’t enough to steal a victory from the undefeated Kodiaks (9-0).

Carter Hansen and Dax Whitehead both had 10 kills for Lethbridge. Tony Albizzati added seven digs.

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