Lions Fall To Kodiaks In Final Home Game
In their final weekend of play, the Ambrose men's volleyball team went up against the Lethbridge Kodiaks in the Lions' Den on Friday night and lost in four sets. Graduating seniors Curtis Dyck (2 kills, 2 aces) and Nolan Ens (2 kills, 2 digs) both received Player of the Game in their final appearances on home court, and were honoured in a postgame ceremony by the coaching staff and fans.
"I thought that we had some good moments of blocking tonight out of our middles," said Head Coach Paul Armbruster. "It was a strange game for our setters, because they (Lethbridge) missed a ton of serves, and we had some difficulty passing in the first and fourth so it really made it hard for Logan and JV to get a rhythm going."
The first set remained very close until the final points, at which point Lethbridge began to pull away. Ambrose was down 18-19, but offensive execution gave Lethbridge the edge down the stretch before a kill down the line by Kodiaks POG Carter Hansen (14 kills, 6 digs) ended the set at 25-21.
The second also stayed very close until the later points, neither team leading by more than two points. This time, however, the story of the set was serving. An abnormally high number of service errors by the Kodiaks (22 on the night) gave the Lions opportunities to execute and kept them in it. Once the Kodiaks started putting serves in, however, the Lions passing core gave up two aces in a row and found themselves down 23-19. Two more unforced errors from the Lions ended the set at 25-20 and put the Kodiaks up two sets to none.
Ambrose turned it around in the third, passing and blocking well enough to take an 18-14 lead. Adrian Strandberg and Keaton Strom were much more effective swinging from the outside, scoring off the block and minimizing their errors, while Ambrose middles Nolan Ens and Gobi Jibi finally closed a few blocks on Dax Whitehead (16 kills, 3 aces) and Carter Hansen. A missed serve from Kodiaks setter Zach Wikenheiser gave Ambrose the set win at 25-20.
Lethbridge returned to form offensively and from the service line in the fourth set, and the Lions had no answer for the attacking of Whitehead and Hansen. The Lions fought back after being down 11-20 to make it 16-22, but the deficit proved too big to overcome. A kill from Whitehead off the hands of Jibi finished the game, the final set ending 25-18.
Both seniors reflected on their volleyball careers in the postgame interviews starting with 5th year Curtis Dyck. "It's been an amazing experience being able to play here…I've said it a few times but this is the best team that I've had the privilege of playing for. This team is more like a family, we're there for each other, and we get to battle with each other on the court, which is a great honour and experience."
4th year senior Nolan Ens recalled, "My most memorable times with the team were always the random, goofing off experiences like our team hike, or team mini-golf, things like that. Really just all the friendships that have been created, I've loved that."
Coach Armbruster also had a few words for his graduating players. "We've been so blessed to have Nolan and Curt exhibit such selflessness…they've both battled through some injuries, both have grown, and improved, and worked to get better, and have just been great leaders this year. A big thank you to their parents for the young men that they've raised, it's been such a pleasure to work with them."
The Lions will play their final game of the season in Lethbridge on Saturday night. If you can't make the trip to Lethbridge, catch the action online at acactv.ca. Go Lions!
- Brent Ingram