Women's Volleyball Weekend Recap | January 6, 2018
The Lakeland Rustlers improved to 14-0 on the season following two victories over the Concordia Thunder on the weekend. The Rustlers defeated the Thunder in three sets Friday night in Edmonton and followed it up with another victory in three sets Saturday night in Lloydminster.
Friday night in Edmonton, the Rustlers defeated the Thunder in 3 sets (25-21, 25-23, 25-22). The Rustlers were led by Player of the Game #8 Avery Maginel with eight kills, while fourth year outside hitter Ahnika Kuse and second year middle blocker Brooklyn Boehm each added seven. Defensively, the Rustlers were able to limit the Thunder's attack with second year libero Olivia Thomson, second year setter Bailee Weiler and second year outside hitter Belle de Vries each having 11 digs. Fourth year setter Rae Sigurdson finished the match with 26 assists.
Saturday, the Rustlers defeated the Thunder 3-0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-20) in the second night of the home and home series. The teams traded points to start the first set, with neither team taking more than a 2 point lead. The Rustlers lacked defence, allowing the Thunder to stay in the set. After the two teams were tied at 11, the Rustlers forced the Thunder to make a couple of mistakes while the Rustlers took a 16-13 lead. The Thunder then forced the Rustlers to make mistakes, while they tied the score at 17. The teams would trade points before the Rustlers would go on to win the set 25-20. Rustlers open a 6-1 lead to start the second set. The Thunder capitalized on mistakes by the Rustlers and strong serving, as they cut the lead 1. The Rustlers rebuilt an 8 point lead before they went on to win the set 25-20. The Rustlers once again took a 6-1 lead to start the third set. The Thunder cut the lead to 3 on a miscommunication by the Rustlers. The Rustlers took a 19-13 lead later in the set before going on to win 25-20.
Fourth year outside hitter Shelby Becker led the Rustlers with 13 kills and Thomson had ten digs. With six blocks on the game, Player of the Game for the Rustlers was #7, Chelsea Thorpe.
Second year middles Chelsea Steinley and Chelsea Thorpe shared their thoughts on what makes this team successful and why the struggle in the first set.
"The competitive level," Steinley said, "even in practice we hold each other accountable. It's not ok to let a ball drop, and it doesn't need to be Austin holding us to that level."
"We have to get into the game," Thorpe said. "We have to get those first few points in to get going."
Our mental focus isn't quite there yet," Steinley added. "The girls are still getting back from San Diego, and we have picked up an after Christmas flu so it's a good thing that we have a bye next week but after that, we will be raring to go."
Rustlers Head Coach Austin Dyer spoke after the game Saturday night about what it means to coach a veteran team.
"Anytime I get a chance to coach a veteran team it is exciting," Dyer said. "We are building on things from year to year, we aren't just starting over and just working on our basic skills and our systems over and over again, which, when we lots of turnover, that's all that we are doing, we are just repeating the same training every year, just getting to a level where we can try and be competitive. When you get an older team, you get to keep carrying on from where you left off and actually see player development. You get to see players learn and grow, do things that they didn't use to be able to do, learn how to play the game, learn how to counter opponents, all of those things." "
When we first started after last year, everyone was excited about what we did last year, and they were excited to try and do it again this year, but when we first stepped in the gym there was doubt, how good are we actually, you know can we do it again, can we get to that level again. At the beginning, people were looking around at each other just saying like how good are we going to be, are we going to be as good as we were. It didn't take long, we just had to get into our league schedule and into our matches and have them playing as a unit for them to realize we are a veteran, old team and we are very good, so our swag that we have right now, the swagger that we have to our team is for sure higher than when the season started but that all comes with experience and age within the league."
The Rustlers have a bye January 12th & 13th but will resume league play January 19th & 20th as they host the Keyano Huskies at 6:00 pm and 1:00 pm.