CCAA Women's Volleyball Championship

by ACAC Sports Writer Curtis J. Phillips

For the second time in the last five years, the Lakeland College Rustlers were in the gold medal final at the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Women's Volleyball Championships.

In 2013, when they hosted the finals, Lakeland lost out to University of the Fraser Valley (PACWEST) on their Lloydminster, Alberta home court 12-25, 10-25 and 20-25..

Saturday evening their opponent at the 2016-2017 CCAA Women's Volleyball Championships was the host Camosun College Chargers playing on their home court at the Pacific Institute for Sport Excellence.

Would history repeat itself, the host team losing and the visitors, in this case, the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference Rustlers spiking and striking gold.

To get to the finale, the Rustlers defeated the MSVU Mystics 3-2 in their opening game Thursday. Ahnika Kuse had 17 kills with Alyssa Grondin chipping in with 13.

"To be honest that was the most nerve racking game of the tournament for us," said Rustlers head coach Austin Dyer. "It was a number of things. We didn't play particularly well in handling the pressure of a national tournament. The style of play of Mount Saint Vincent also caught us off guard as they ran an extremely fast offence that put us under a ton of pressure. It took us a while to adapt to their style."

Friday's semi-final featured the Rustlers, who had a third-best record of 18-6 in the ACAC North Conference, against defending CCAA champion VIU Mariners (PACWEST).

The Mariners, ranked No. 1 in the CCAA polls from the opening serve to the final regular season point, were led by 2016-2017 CCAA Women's Volleyball Player of the Year Megan Rosenlund.

The Rustlers would prove giant killers by sweeping the Mariners 25-19, 25-22, 25-21.

Kuse recorded 10 kills in the win.

Rustlers head coach Austin Dyer said in a post-game interview that the win was, "as good as it gets."

He continued: "Our conference (ACAC) is so hard and it is hard to get out of Alberta, so that is the first step," said Dyer in a post-game interview on SportsCanada.TV "No one would have picked us to get out of the ACAC but we started to roll in February as it took us a while to find our identity.

"I know what the top-end of our team is and if we can play consistently at that level, we can beat anyone. To play the game that well at this stage was incredible. We got the dig and it was the transition set from our setter which was the difference."

GOLD MEDAL GAME

In the gold medal final against the host Chargers, who had advanced to the title game with victories over the Humber Hawks 3-2 and ACAC Wildcard Grande Prairie Regional College Wolves 3-0, the Rustlers came out focused and would go on to win their first CCAA Women's Volleyball title with 25-20, 25-20, 17-25 and 26-24 totals.

According to the CCAA media release, "The Rustlers used tremendous defence and a strong middle attack to secure the exciting win. Defensively they recorded nine blocks led by the four from Alyssa Grondin and three from Chelsea Steinley. Offensively Ahnika Kuse and Shelby Becker led the charge with 11 kills each. Avery Maginel was named the Player of the Match with five kills, six digs and one block."

Kuse and Shelby Becker recorded 11 kills each. Rustlers Avery Maginel earned Player of the Match status with five kills, six digs and one block.

"We made some unforced errors in the first set which was uncharacteristic," said Dyer. "In the third set they started serving super aggressive and they were hammering some through our left side and we were caught and down big."

Dyer recalls the moment when the final point and a gold medal was realized: "To be honest, at the end, I didn't know how I felt...I could not believe it. Camosun are a great team and at the tournament they were super steady. They were the underdog coming in and they were probably happy just to be here. But once they got going, they played well and they had so much fire power from the left side that teams were struggling controlling that."

Rustlers Becker and Kuse made First Team All Star while Second Team All Star status went to Rae Siguadson and Alyssa Grondin.

WOLVES GO FOR BRONZE

Wolves defeated Lynx d' Edouard Montpetit 3-1 in their opening game behind Megan Koch's 12 kills with CCAA All Canadian Emily Groenenboom notching 11 kills.

Wolves were swept 3-0 by host Chargers in the semi-final.

Koch once again led the attack with nine kills.

In the bronze semi-final against the Cavaliers de Bois-de-Boulogne the Wolves regrouped and won 3-2 after coming back from a two-game deficit.

Wolves' player of the game was second-year middle Brynelle Barrs.

"We will have to have good rest before our next game." said Barrs in a post-game interview on SportsCanada.TV "I am so proud of the girls as we held together after the first two sets. After that second set we came into the huddle and said this is our last game together, so let's go have fun as we were putting a lot of pressure on ourselves and that helped clear our minds"

Wolf's coach Sam Tuivai concurred about the "fun": aspect being a key motivator: "After the second set, I felt after watching them that they were putting too much pressure on themselves. They have to be perfect. I said to them, "No. Just go out there and have fun and believe in the person next to you and believe in yourself."

Koch once again led the Wolves attack with 16 kills and three service aces.

In the bronze medal match, despite winning the first set 25-22 the Wolves came up short as the VIU Mariners would stay on top for the next three games 18-25, 20-25 and 11-25.

Koch had 15 kills and Groenenboom nine. Player of the Match was Michelle Gauthier with eight kills, five blocks and one dig.

Koch and Michelle Gauthier were First Team All Star selections.

Last time the ACAC won a CCAA Women's Volleyball Championships was 2015 when the Red Deer Queens claimed gold.

This is only the third time that the ACAC has won both women's and men's CCAA volleyball banners with Red Deer Kings/Queens doing such in 2014 and Kings and McEwan University Griffins getting the honour in 2007. Women's CCAA Volleyball Championships date back to 1978 and the men 1979.