News Feed
Rattlers Vault into First with Upsets of Kings
11/17/2008
Submitted by Medicine Hat College - by Darren Steinke MH News
The Medicine Hat College Rattlers men’s volleyball team is going to have to steal the “yes we can” slogan from U.S. president elect Barack Obama.
On the weekend, the Rattlers completed a shocking sweep of the Red Deer College Kings at the Snake Pit. Entering the weekend, the Kings were undefeated at 4-0, and they were ranked sixth in the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association rankings.
The Rattlers claimed a 3-1 win (25-20, 23-25, 25-14 and 27-25) on Friday, and followed that performance with a thrilling 3-2 victory (25-22, 21-25, 18-25, 25-19 and 15-12) on Saturday. Left side hitter Anton Friesen added the exclamation point hammering down a powerful final kill on Saturday for the match-clinching point.
“The word of the weekend is definitely perseverance,” said Rattlers head coach Kyle Pushkarenko. “(Friday) in the fourth game, we were down 24-21 and came back to win that set and hence the match. Saturday, we were down 2-1. We came out and had complete momentum in our favour in the fourth set. We persevered even when they started to catch up in the fifth (set). I think it was fantastic.”
With the wins, the Rattlers move into a first place tie in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference’s South Division with the Kings. Both teams are 4-2.
The two most well known outside hitters for the Rattlers are sophomores Friesen and Justin Pikel. Rookie Evan Ericson, who is from Kelvington, Sask., also made a name for himself on the weekend. He led the Rattlers with 15 kills and three service aces on Friday. On Saturday, Ericson added nine critical kills in the come-from-behind victory.
“He did a fantastic job,” said Pushkarenko. “He did everything that he needed to do, and he did it very well. We look forward to seeing a lot from him in the future.”
Friesen led the Rattlers with 19 kills on Saturday, while middles Brett Uniat and Erik Johnson chipped in seven and six kills respectively. Ericson, said the Rattlers overall depth has been key to their early success.
“We can spread our offence all around the court,” said Ericson. “They can’t see what is coming with a setter (Garrett Popplestone) as good as ours. They have a hard time reading it, and there is no way they can guess either.”
The Rattlers women’s team fell to 0-6 on the season falling to the Red Deer Queens 26-24, 25-14 and 26-24. Left side hitter Paige Dean led the Rattlers with nine kills, while counterpart Katie Graves of the Queens led her squad with 15 kills.
Both Rattlers teams will host SAIT teams this coming Friday. The women’s game is slated for 6 p.m. and the men’s match follows at 8 p.m.
