The Murray Chevrolet Cadillac 2020 ACAC Men's Volleyball Championships are underway at Lethbridge College!

The conference top eight teams are battling through three days of action to crown a champion. The two finalists will both advance to the CCAA championships hosted by St. Thomas University in Fredericton, N.B.

Quarterfinals took place on Thursday, and semifinals took place on Friday. Today is championship Saturday that includes our own Lethbridge College Kodiaks taking on the Red Deer College Kings for the gold medal at 5:30 p.m.

More information is available on the tournament website. Here are the results from the final day of action:

(S2) Red Deer Kings 3
(S1) Lethbridge Kodiaks 1

(23-25, 25-19, 25-20, 25-23)

Championship Game

The Kings have re-claimed the throne. Following two straight years out of the medals at the ACAC men’s volleyball championships, the Red Deer College Kings returned to the top spot with a four set win over the host Lethbridge College Kodiaks.

“It really never gets old,” said Kings coach Aaron Schulha. “We’ve had a lot of success in our program, I was lucky enough to be part of a few as a player, we won a few over the last little while as coaches as well, but it's a different journey every year with a different group. I’m just really, really proud of the way this group came along.”

A standing room only crowd filled the Val Matteotti Gymnasium at Lethbridge College to watch two of the top three ranked teams in the country square off for the gold medal at the Murray Chevrolet Cadillac ACAC Men’s Volleyball Championship.

In the opening set, the Kodiaks gave the hometown fans plenty of reason to roar. Playing in the Val Matteotti Gymnasium for the final time in his storied career, senior outside hitter Carter Hansen (fifth year, General Studies, Magrath) was a force all over the court, picking up four kills, an ace and block as the Kodiaks jumped out to the lead with a 25-23 win. Hansen ended the game with a team-high 16 kills.

But the momentum stalled in the second set as Red Deer upped the pressure and the Kodiaks were unable to respond. Lethbridge committed 12 errors as the Kings battled back to even the game with a 25-19 win. Patrik Toze (fourth year, Bachelor of Kinesiology, Brisbane, Australia) and Ben Holmes (fourth year, Bachelor of Arts, Red Deer) formed a formidable duo early in the match, as Toze had five kills and an ace in the first set, while Holmes led the Kings with four kills in the second set. It was a momentum swing that the Kodiaks were never able to recover from.

“In critical moments, Red Deer was super clean,” said Kodiaks coach Greg Gibos. “We knew part of their game plan was to come in and not make any errors, and I think in moments of high intensity and high stress, they were a little bit stronger mentally than us. And I wouldn't say that our performance was poor by any stretch of the imagination, we just lost a really good team.”

The Kings continued to show the veteran poise that led them to seven-straight ACAC medals from 2011 to 2017 in the third set, as the Kings won 25-20. ACAC Rookie of the Year Carter Hills (first year, Bachelor of Education Science, Legal, AB) led the Kings with four kills. Hansen did his best to keep the Kodiaks in the game, with seven kills, along with a block and an ace.

Red Deer led throughout most of the fourth set, but were pushed by the Kodiaks right until the end before they pulled out a 25-23 victory to seal the match. Hills had three more kills to help the Kings to the win, while Michael Hummel (fifth year, General Studies, Picture Butte) led the Kodiaks in the final set with four blocks and two kills.

The win was the 13^th-straight for the Kings, who will be a high seed at the CCAA national championship tournament.

“I wasn't with the team in the first half – I was on a medical leave – so there's emotions there,” says Schulha. “For my assistant coaches to step in the way they did to get the guys all primed for the second half, and then I was able to come back and, and kind of see it through with them, it's pretty emotional.

“I'm just really proud of the way that the guys stepped up. Obviously it was a great crowd and a very good team on the other side. I think that the two best teams were in the final that's the way it should be.”

Toze had 15 kills for the Kings and was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

“It's really something of beauty for us to come in and win,” said Toze. “We knew it was going to be such a tough game, they are an amazing team and to come into their home gym with the crowd, we knew it was going to be tough. But one of the big things was to stay together as a team and as a group of friends and we did that. I’m absolutely happy.”

The silver medal is the second straight for the Kodiaks. Both teams now advance to the CCAA National Championship from March 11 to 14, hosted by St. Thomas University in Fredericton, N.B.

Players of the game:

Red Deer – Carter Hills
Lethbridge – Quinn Buchanan

Tournament MVP:

Patrik Toze – Red Deer

Tournament all-star team:

Carter Hansen – Lethbridge
Tony Albizzati – Lethbridge
Michael Hummel – Lethbridge
Carter Hills – Red Deer
Tom Wass – Red Deer
Bryton Codd – Briercrest
Maddux Greves – SAIT

(S4) Briercrest Clippers 2
(S3) SAIT Trojans 3

(22-25, 20-25, 25-23, 25-23, 15-12)

Bronze Medal Game

If anyone needed convincing that bronze medals still matter to the players, this game would be example ‘A’. The SAIT Trojans and Briercrest Clippers battled through an epic five-set match, with SAIT coming back from a 2-0 deficit to win the match. The victory gave the Trojans the bronze medal at the Murray Chevrolet Cadillac 2020 ACAC Men’s Volleyball Championship in Lethbridge.

The Trojans also won bronze last season, and it is SAIT’s third-straight ACAC medal after winning the conference championship in 2017-18.

“This is my first year and we've changed the style of play,” said Trojans head coach Dallas Soonias.  “What we've built this year will make us stronger next year. We built a foundation this year, next year we can hopefully keep building. Our program is getting stronger.”

The first two sets were close, but it was Briercrest getting the better of the Trojans each time. Briercrest’s Belizean duo of ACAC Player of the Year Karym Coleman (second year, BA Business Administration, Belize City, Belize) and north division all-conference selection Bryton Codd (second year, MA Leadership and Management, Belize City, Belize) led the Clippers to 25-22 and 25-20 wins that put the Clippers on the verge of a bronze medal. Coleman combined for five kills and three aces through the first two sets, while Codd had nine kills and three blocks.

The Trojans, however, still had some fight left and proved it over the next two tightly-contested sets.

“I wanted to put six guys on the floor who were going to go after it,” said Soonias. “We made a couple changes, found six guys who went for it and I’m very happy with how they played.”

SAIT got on the board with a 25-23 victory in the third set and then evened the match with another 25-23 win in the fourth. SAIT’s Jarrett Noel (third year, Geographic Information Systems, Calgary) led the Trojans attack throughout the entire match, registering five of his team-high 18 kills in the fourth set.

That set up the winner-takes-bronze fifth set, the first time a match had gone the distance throughout the championship weekend. Riding a wave of momentum after back-to-back set wins, the Trojans built a quick 9-5 lead. The Clippers called a timeout to settle its ship, and it seemed to work, as Briercrest won six of the next eight points to tie the set at 11, capped by a Coleman ace. But the Trojans had one final burst left, and won four of the next five points, finished off by a Noel kill to take the set 15-12 and complete the comeback win.  

The Clippers’ Coleman had an incredible 28 kills to lead the match. For Briercrest, it was a tough end to a weekend that began with a come-from-behind upset win over north division top seed NAIT.

“I'm just incredibly proud of our guys to understand that we've been given gifts and opportunity and today's a new day,” said Clippers coach Nigel Mullan. “I'm still thankful to get to be a part of a team that believes and has the ability to have a long term vision and understanding what we're trying to accomplish.”

Players of the game:

Briercrest – Bryton Codd
SAIT – Maddux Greves

(N2) Keyano Huskies 0
(N1) NAIT Ooks 3

(26-24, 27-25, 25-20)

Consolation Final

The NAIT Ooks and Keyano Huskies have battled toe-to-toe all season long and it was no different in the final game of the year for both teams. The Ooks earned a straight-sets win over their rival Huskies in a consolation final that was closer than the 3-0 score indicated. All three sets went long in the battle for fifth place at the Murray Chevrolet Cadillac 2020 ACAC Men’s Volleyball Championship in Lethbridge.

“Our serve game was on point today, we're able to keep them in trouble a lot,” said Ooks head coach Greg Gulash. “They have two dominant middle attackers, so keeping them in trouble with our serving was key in order to kind of slow them down and allow our transition and defense to do the job.”

In the first set, NAIT took a lead early, but Keyano wasn’t going to make it easy on them, fighting for every point. The Ooks were eventually able to finish it off, 26-24. NAIT outside hitter and player of the game Daniel Ward (second year, Personal Fitness Trainer, St. Albert) had three kills, while teammate Spencer Fisher (fifth year, Bachelor of Applied Business Administration, Barrhead) had four from the left side. Keyano spread its offensive strength around with 6’6 middle Athus Silva (first year, College Prep, Compis, Brazil) leading with three kills, while outside hitter Trey Weinmeier (third year, University Studies, Spruce Grove) and right side hitter Connor Clark (fifth year, Power Engineering, Waterville, N.S.) both had two kills.

In the second set, NAIT squeaked out another close one, with a 27-25 win. NAIT spread its points around, while Keyano received two kills each from Silva, ACAC north division Rookie of the Year Joao Cunha (first year, College Prep, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and Clark.

The third set was the first time NAIT had any breathing room as NAIT built an early 9-2 lead before winning 25-20. Devon Klein (fourth year, Construction Engineering Technology, Edmonton) had four sets, while a big kill by Tyler McCartney (second year, Geomatics Engineering Technology, Edson) was enough to finally finish off the Huskies.

“For the whole weekend, we weren't at the standard we needed to be to compete,” said Huskies head coach Keegan Kuhr. “We were a good north team, but we weren't good enough to compete against the south and play for a championship, so we have a lot of work to do over the offseason. It’s back to the drawing board and in September we have to come back in with a higher standard.”

Clark led the Huskies with eight kills, while Jonathan Shapka (second year, Denturist Technology, St. Paul) had a team-high nine for the fifth-place NAIT Ooks.

Players of the game:

NAIT – Daniel Ward
Keyano – Anderson King