Lighning Shock OOKS
The First match of the day featured the Losing squads from the Previous day. The NAIT OOks played host to the Concordia Thunder at Medicine Hat. Both Teams lacked the energy of the day previous and seemed flat. The Ooks were sharper early with better passing, but the Thunder Rallied back to keep the set close. Missed served and attacks haunted the thunder early who fell behind. Setter Trecito Gansan fron Concordia stepped up to serve and delivered 4 straight bringing Concordia into the lead. The thunder held this lead for the remainder of the set winning with ease 25-19.
The second set opened with more energetic play than the first. Teams seemed to wake up and play more polished volleyball. The Ooks were swinging much harder on the attack as well. The spikes that lacked energy and were being dug up, were finally hitting the floor. The game leveled itself at 7 with both teams having a run of 4 early. Sloppy first touches from both sides saw the offence not able to mount an effective attack as the setters were scrambling. Finally, by mid set passes were up and the teams traded side-outs. The score slowly crawled up as both teams were mounting effective offences. As Thunder Outside hitter Keenan Forstey stepped into serve, he blasted two aces in a row to give Concordia a nice cushion late in the set. NAIT tried to battle back and with a streak of 4 moved into the lead. Serving for the win, NAIT converted a free ball wining 26-24 tying the match a one set a piece.
The third saw NAIT maintain their momentum early, jumping out to a 3-0 lead. The Thunder Battled back but still trailed by 3, 6-9 early. The Thunder Never fell behind but didn't seem to gain any ground. 2 long rallies won by NAIT seemed to solidify their control of the third set. The Thunder never seemed to get into the set with any energy, trailing the whole time and looking dejected down 5. A big Kill from Concordia's Nick Dove, seemed to give the Thunder a quick energy boost. They were too far behind at this point to mount a comeback without some serious luck, but they needed to gain some momentum at the very least. The Ooks Cruised and finished off the set winning 25-17.
The Fourth set offered NAIT the opportunity to end the match. Concordia hoped to win in an effort to keep their Championship weekend alive. The Ooks showed that they were a stronger team especially in regard to blocking and backrow attacks. With an 8-1 run the Ooks opened up a 10-5 lead early on. After Bringing the score back to within 2, the Thunder forced NAIT to take an early timeout. The Thunder continued to come back, tying the set at 12. Points flowed back and forth as the score crept up. Concordia took a late lead, converting the lead to a 25-21 win forcing a 5th and deciding set.
The 5th set started with teams trading Big kills and side-outs. Neither team grabbed control early. As the court switch approached neither team could gain a definitive advantage and the Thunder entered the switch with a slight advantage. Taking momentum into the second half of the 5th. This lead to a 4 serve run and the Thunder Grabbing a Commanding lead 12-7. The Ooks called a timeout in an effort to stop the bleeding. The Lightning had built too much of a lead at this point winning Handily 15-10 and coming back to win 3 sets to 2.