Men's Volleyball Huskies aim for Bronze after semis loss to Kodiaks

As hard as it may be to acknowledge in the immediate for the Keyano Huskies Men’s Volleyball team, Friday’s Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) semi-final against the Lethbridge Polytechnic Kodiaks will be remembered as one of the best showcases of the sport at this level in recent memory.  
 
However, the proposition of sports relies on there being a winner and a loser in each circumstance. Friday, the Huskies fell into the latter of the two categories in a 3-2 (23-25, 25-27, 25-18, 25-23, 19-17) decision.  
 
“Two good teams battling it out,” Head Coach Keegan Kuhr said of the match. “I thought we had it, but obviously we didn’t. That’s how sport goes sometimes.” 
 
The depth of the Huskies roster was tested with All-Conference outside hitter João Cunha not dressing, but true to what they’ve done all season they stepped up. Regulars starters worked to fill the gap offensively as Rafael Parada had 16 kills, complemented by 13 from Brody Kopec, 10 from Preston Yole, and nine from Athus Silva.  
 
Cameron Calhoun came off the bench to add seven kills in the late insertion and Noah Gagné recorded 48 assists with Nikola Sreckovic inserted at key moments to change the tide of things. 
 
That spurred the Huskies to set wins in sets one and two, but the Kodiaks fought back to take sets three and four. The top-seeded team from the North Division were almost able to turn the tide back in their favour in the fourth set before losing by the narrowest of margins. 
 
The fifth set was not for the faint of heart with the Kodiaks pulling ahead before the Huskies rallied to claim control. But at multiple match points the Kodiaks fended off the Huskies and the see-saw battle continued until they took a 19-17 advantage to end the match.  

“This is such a special group,” Kuhr continued. “Obviously there’s a lot of emotion, there were some tears.  
 
“We just talked about going out and finishing our season with a win. That’s all you ever want to do is finish your season with a [win] so that’s what we’re going to try and do tomorrow.” 

In the other semi-final, the Red Deer Polytechnic Kings won in straight sets against the host Lakeland College Rustlers.  
 
The Huskies and Rustlers will compete for ACAC Bronze Saturday at 6:00pm. The game will be available on ACACTV.ca.