Playoff Dreams Gone

The Lakeland College Rustlers men's volleyball team had their playoff dreams shattered in a tough five-set loss, 25-17, 23-25, 25-20, 23-25, 15-17, to the University of Alberta-Augustana Vikings in Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference play in Camrose on Saturday night.

With the loss the Rustlers (6-16) have missed the playoffs every year since 2007. The Vikings solidify their lock on the fourth and final spot in the ACAC north playoff race despite having lost 11-straight games, and 14 of 16, prior to sweeping the Rustlers this weekend.

The Rustlers will be in Grande Prairie next weekend to take on the Wolves in the season finale.

"(The main difference tonight was) we made errors in bad moments," said Rustlers head coach Taylor Dyer. "Missing serves, when it mattered, after 20 points. We had the perfect game plan and weren't able to execute it at times. The sets we won, we were in control the whole way and did the things we needed to do. In the sets we lost we weren't real good at doing those things. We have to be better all the time."

And the coach thought the team was way more engaged on Saturday. To a man they all knew what a loss would mean.

"(Our passion) was way better tonight," Dyer said. "If we have that (kind of desire) every match, and follow the gameplan, we're not talking about not being in the playoffs, we would be in the playoffs." 

"It was quite the match," fifth-year senior Arnette McKay added. "They have a pretty big block from the left side, so, to find a way around that is a competition of me. It was a good match all the way around and it was back and forth, which was good to see."

The Rustlers men's volleyball team extended their road-losing streak to 10 games with a five-set loss, 16-25, 25-23, 25-21, 21-25, 10-15, to the University of Alberta-Augustana Vikings in Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference play in Camrose on Friday night.

After missing two games last weekend for personal reasons, McKay was back in the lineup and led the team with seven kills. Bryston Keck also contributed seven kills in the loss and Tyson Weins had five. Brayden Griffith missed the game with an eye infection. The Vikings snapped an 11-game losing streak with the win.

Gordon Anderson

Posted: February 13, 2017