Lakeland Rustlers Weekend Recap - Feb 12, 2024
Lakeland College Athletics is speeding up to a busy season of playoff action!
Rustlers Women's Hockey
Several Rustlers squads were out on the road this weekend, including women's hockey, who went south to Medicine Hat for a three-game series with the Rattlers. MHC is the newest program in the ACAC for women's hockey and struggled mightily against a hot Lakeland squad. Scores for the weekend were 9-0, 9-1 and 11-1.
Janay Williams had 2 goals and 2 assists, Claudia Lammers had 4 goals and two assists (including a hattrick on Saturday), Darby Robertson had 6 goals (including 4 goals on Sunday) and Hailey Carothers had 2 goals and 7 assists.
The Rustlers are no 19-4 and first in the ACAC, having won nine games in a row. This weekend they have a bye, before they take on the NAIT Ooks.
Rustlers Basketball
Basketball was also on the road in Calgary for two South Division matchups. Both the women and men's teams were facing stiff competition, especially the men's side, as both the St. Mary's Lightning and SAIT Trojans (defending CCAA champs) are nationally ranked.
The women's game against the Lightning was the closest they've had this season, as they trailed at halftime 34-26. Lakeland cut the gap to a possession heading into the final quarter, then limited St. Mary's offence to just 8 points to win 70-59. Hineaupounamu Nuku led the team in points again with 23, while Susan Ayaa had another big game off the bench with 20 points, 12 rebounds and 4 blocks.
The following afternoon, the Rustlers built up a huge lead in each of the first three quarters, before allowing the Trojans to outscore them 23-10 in the fourth. Final score was 67-54, with Nuku posting 17 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists and Alana Olson adding 11 points and 9 rebounds.
Men's basketball did fare as well against their opponents, losing 105-78 and 81-64. Andre McFadden had 26 points on Friday, while Allayassa Bray had 11 and 10 rebounds on Saturday. The men drop to 10-8, but remain in second place in the North.
Rustlers Volleyball
Volleyball held it's final regular season matches at home over the weekend, which included the annual Food Drive on Friday when they faced the Olds Broncos. Both teams won in straight sets, with the women holding Olds to single digits twice. Jana Laing had 25 assists, 4 aces and 6 digs, while Brock Tomyn and Gabe Bjorkas combined for 25 kills for the men.
The following evening was Senior night, with two graduating players for the women in Laing and Kaylie Lueck. It was a another straight sets win, with Lueck getting the POG nod. Prior to coach Austin Dyer going forward with the ceremony, the girls and Narra Studios surprised coach Dyer with a thank you video.
While the men had no fifth year players, libero Jake Willick was playing in his last home match. The men's team won 3-0, though the third set left the crowd with some excitement, as the Rustlers needed a Tomyn ace to seal the victory at 30-28. Willick was the POG with 9 digs. Bjorkas also set a career service aces record for the men's program with 91.
The weekend sweep improves the women to 18-1 (the same record as last year, while the men finish 13-6 and move back into the national rankings at 15, marking their best regular season in program history.
Rustlers Women's Futsal
Following the weekend, Lakeland got more good news. After originally being eliminated from playoff contention, due to the host school finishing at the bottom of the standings, women's futsal will now participate at the ACAC Championship in March! They finished the regional competition with a combined record of 6-4, good for third in the North Division, and will go to the playoffs for the first time since 2019 when it was automatic qualification.
What's Coming Up
Most of the department is off this week, but there's one more home weekend in the Lakeland gym before playoff season. Men's and women's basketball host Rustlers Club Basketball Night on Friday (where both club and youth basketball athletes get in for $2), which will be against the nationally ranked RDP Queens and Kings. This will be the most high profile matchup of the women's basketball regular season in the CCAA. Following that, it's Senior Night on Saturday, where women's basketball features three fifth year athletes, Hailey Somers, Jaden Cook and Ally Pilgrim.
Tip off is 6:00 PM both nights, with the graduating ceremony taking place between the two games on Saturday. The women's team has a chance to go undefeated in regular season play for the third time, while the men need at least a win (possibly two) in order to hang onto second place and host a Quarter-final matchup the following weekend.