Kodiaks win a hotly contested game over the Broncos

Olds College Broncos men's volleyball team lost 3-1 (21-25, 25-21, 25-22, 25-21) to the Lethbridge College Kodiaks in the Broncos We Dig Pink-Women's Cancer Awareness Game Friday, Nov. 1at the Ralph Klein Centre.

The first set started with back and forth play before the Broncos pulled away at 21-16. There were some monster kills throughout the set, notably from Ryzen Walkingbear and Jesse Stoddart. Lethbridge tried to make a comeback but a long serve gave Broncos the 25-20 win.

The Broncos took off from where they left off in the second set, with the early lead off a thunderous Ryzen Walkingbear kill. Olds went on a 4-0 run off Braden Bates serves to take an 8-5 lead. Lethbridge responded with a run of their own to tie the score 8-8. The teams exchanged points until Lethbridge took a 21-19 lead to force an Olds timeout. Lethbridge continued to pull away to take the second set 25-21.

Lethbridge jumped out to an 8-3 lead early. The Broncos pushed back but Lethbridge was able to maintain their five point lead. Olds took a timeout with a 15-9 lead. The Broncos chipped away at the lead to bring it to 21-19 for Lethbridge. The Broncos forced a Lethbridge timeout at 24-22 for Lethbridge. Lethbridge finished off the set coming out of the timeout to win 25-22.

The Broncos jumped out to a 6-0 lead to start the fourth set off fantastic serving from Ryzen Walkingbear. The Broncos were able to maintain a five point lead with Lethbridge cutting the lead until they tied it at 11-11 and forcing a timeout. Lethbridge took their first lead of the set out of the timeout and extended it to 14-11. The teams went back and forth exchanging points until Haiden Hurtig cut the lead to 16-14 with a powerful service ace. Lethbridge forced a Broncos timeout at 19-15 but that was the closest that Olds would get, falling 25-21 in the fourth and deciding set.  

Player of the game for Lethbridge was Quinn Buchanan with nine kills and a game high four blocks and the Pit Barbecue Player of the Game for the Broncos was Thundersky Walkingbear with a team high 13 kills and two blocks to go with 10 digs.

The Broncos held the advantage for digs 62-59. Lethbridge held the advantage in kills 54-34, assists 44-33 and blocks 9-7. Thomas Pugsley had a team high 24 assists, Jesse Stoddart had a team high 13 digs and Braden Bates had a team high two blocks for Olds.

The Broncos host Lethbridge College again for the Olds College Student Appreciation Game Saturday, Nov. 2. Game times are 8:00 pm and 3:00 pm respectively.

To learn more about Olds College, the Olds College Broncos and the volleyball teams go to gobroncos.ca; like the Facebook page and follow @OldsBroncos on Twitter and Instagram.