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Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference "To be Canada's premiere collegiate athletic conference by developing and inspiring leadership through excellence in academics, sport and citizenship"
Posted: Jan 26, 2018

Lions Can’t Stop the Rattlers At Home

Box Score
Game Leaders
MHC
K: Zachary Frank - 8
B: Joao Pedro Freire - 4
D: Kreggan Scharnatta - 11
SA: 2 Players (#5, #7) - 3
AMB
K: Keaton Strom - 12
B: Keaton Strom - 2
D: Logan Sept - 15
SA: 4 Players (#1, #2, #6, #15) - 1
Team Stats
Full stats

Coming off a weekend sweep of Olds before their bye week, the Ambrose Men's Volleyball team were hoping to keep the win streak going against Medicine Hat. Unfortunately, the visiting Rattlers snapped their own 8-game losing streak by winning in 3 sets in the Lions' Den on Friday night.

Both teams came out strong in the first set, but Medicine Hat pulled away near the end. The Lions showed signs of life and put a few points together while they were down 20-24, getting to 23-24, but a Lions error would cut the comeback short and give the visitors their first set victory of the night.

Despite several standout performances from the Lions, particularly Player of the Game Adrian "The Finch" Strandberg, unforced errors were a thorn in the home team's side all night long. Strandberg, after spending much of this season recovering from an ankle sprain as well as a broken finger (the latter of which required surgery), scored 11 kills and picked up 6 digs in his return to the court. Setter Jacob Reid, with 33 assists, showed intelligent decision-making as he ran the offense, while 5th year outside Keaton Strom added 12 kills into the mix.

Down 8-18 in the second set, the Lions again made a late push to try and crawl their way back into the game; a combination of elevated Ambrose play and timely Rattlers errors brought the deficit to only two points at 20-22. At this point the Rattlers refocused, going on a 3-0 run to quell any hopes of Ambrose completing the comeback. MHC Player of the Game João Pedro Freire, in his first year with the Rattlers, was a big part of shutting down Ambrose offense as he tallied 4 stuff blocks to go with his 7 kills.

The third set found the Lions unable to find any way to close the deficit once the Rattlers opened up a lead, trailing by as many as 6 halfway through the set. Medicine Hat found a level of consistency that the Lions couldn't match, and Ambrose was committing too many errors to keep up with their opponents. A kill, an ace, and a handful of Lions errors gave the Rattlers the points they needed at the end of the game to maintain  a comfortable lead and close out the set 25-18.

Next weekend the Lions face crosstown rivals the SAIT Trojans, currently leading the ACAC South and ranked #1 in the nation. Tune into acactv.ca on Friday night for the game at SAIT, and on Saturday night for the rematch in the Lions' Den. The men will play at 8:00 pm following the women's game.

 

- Brent Ingram