Clippers Sweep Eagles to advance to Gold Medal Game

In the first Semi-Final of the night, the King's University Eagles faced off against the Briercrest Clippers. The game started off with the teams trading points to start the game. Briercrest was able to score back to back points to pull ahead 4-2 but the Eagles answered right away. King's Eagles quickly battled back and took a 6-5 lead. The Eagles extended their lead to 3, up 9-6 as the set moved out of early stages. The teams traded powerful attacks but somehow were both able to come up with great defensive plays. The Eagles extended their lead to 5, going up 15-10 and forcing the Clippers to take a timeout. The teams came out of the break and traded side-outs but the Clippers gained some momentum and started to close the gap. A few blocks and an Ace from Becky Garner and the Clippers only trailed by 2. Briercrest worked away and trailed only by 1, 17-18 as the set moved in to the later stages. The Clippers were able to tie the set at 19 where the King's Eagles took a timeout. The teams again traded side-outs coming out of the break and remained tied at 20, tied at 21, tied at 22. The Clippers held serve to go up 23-22 on a huge Reece Harder block forcing the Eagles to take a timeout. Becky Garner served an ace to go up 24-22 coming out of the break, but blew her next serve long. The Clippers needed only a 3 hit side-out to take the first set 25-23, capitalizing on a late push.

The second set started with a quick 2 Clippers points right out of the gate. The Eagles evened the set at 3 after a Clippers service error gave the Eagles some free points. Kings took the lead 4-3 but again the clippers matched. The score remained tied at 6 as the game became even more back and forth. The Clippers gained another tiny 2 point advantage up 9-7 as the set moved in to the middle stage. The Eagles tied it back up right away with 2 quick points. the back and forth continued with the Clippers going back up 12-10, before an ace from Mikayla Benterud made it 13. The Clippers extended their lead to 4, 15-11, forcing the Eagles to call a timeout. The Eagles went on a run out of the break and reduced the Clippers lead to one before Briercrest could respond. The Clippers however were able to keep ahead and maintain a minimum 2 point cushion as the set moved into the late stages. Briercrest built on their lead going up 21-16 off a big kill. The Eagles needing to swing the momentum called a timeout. King's missed wide on their first opportunity, and a bad pass on the second gave the clippers the chance to serve for the set. They could not hold serve but it was too big a lead for the Kings to overcome late and the Clippers took set 2, 25-18

The third set started with the teams trading side-out and serve as the set got going. The score was close with the clippers up 5-4 with no advantage for anyone early. The Clippers were able to hold serve and moved ahead two points as the set moved out of the early stages. the Eagles easily battled back, but the score remained deadlocked at 7. King's Eagles were able to pull ahead in the middle stages of the set, going up 11-8 forcing the Clippers bench to take a timeout. The Clippers came out of the break to score quickly but still trailed as the board read 13-11 Eagles. The Eagles scored another and they took the momentum back and pulled away 16-11. This saw the clippers bench frustrated and calling a second timeout. Briercrest started to claw back into it only down 14-16 before the Eagles took a timeout. The Clippers came out of the break and scored again to bring it within one before the Eagles regained the serve. The Clippers scored 2 straight to tie the set at 17. The Clippers added another to take the lead after being down as many as 5. The teams traded side-outs twice and the score was tied at 19. The Clippers were beginning to get efficient again making good swings on the ball. Briercrest went up 21-19 after holding serve late in the set. Briercrest exploded late scoring the next points and going up 23-19 with a chance to win in straight sets. The Eagles took a timeout but the Clippers aced their serve coming out of the break and only needed once chance to win in straight sets 25-19.

The ACAC Players of the game were Becky Garner for Briercrest and Jada Lea for the King's Eagles.