Lions Impress in Home Opener

After a 3 set loss on Friday to the Rattlers, Saturday's game was a much different result.  The Lion's came out playing strong and confidently as a team.  They had the belief that they could beat the Rattlers and this showed early as they won the first set 25-18.  The second set saw more of the same with a loud fan section of students not allowing the Rattlers to gain any momentum.  The Lions won the second set 25-21 and all signs pointed towards the Lions winning in three sets.  Medicine Hat, however, would not go down without a fight as, in the third set, their hitters attacked effectively as they tallied 13 kills to only 1 attacking error and picked up another 3 points on service aces. Medicine Hat would go on to win the set 25-19 and extend the game to a 4^th set. After subbing out some of his starters mid way through the third set, head coach Paul Armbruster returned with his regular starting lineup in the 4h set, hoping these changes would give his team the edge that they needed to win one more set. Adam Morris would go on a 7 point serving run late in the fourth set to put the Lions up 18-9. The Lions would get within two points of wining the match before Medicine Hat fought to get back into the game.  Jovan Stepanovic would go on a late serving run of his own getting the game to within 4. However the deficit was too much to overcome for the Rattlers resulting in Ambrose wining 25-20.   The Lions picked up their first win of the year thanks again to strong play from newcomers Nick Maglio and Nikita Marchenkov .  Player of the game awards were presented to Mark Fountain for the Lions as he totaled 10 kills and 8 digs throughout the night and Jovan Stepanovic for Medicine Hat as he had 14 kills, 2 aces, and 7 digs of his own.