Broncos win exciting five setter over Ambrose

Jacob Mclarney, Olds College Athletics

Olds, AB – Olds College Broncos Men's Volleyball defeated the Ambrose University Lions in the Graduating Student-athlete Night in a dramatic five sets (25-20, 25-18, 20-25, 23-25, 15-7).

There was no room for nerves or getting settled in during this cut-throat match. The hustle started right from the beginning with the Broncos taking the lead right from the start and neither team really giving up any easy points from mental errors or miscommunication. The Lions' best hope for securing points was usually their hitters, and the Broncos defense wasn't allowing them to play their game. Ambrose called the first timeout of the game after being down by a few. After some minutes had passed, Thundersky had a great block on the Ambrose left side to double their score at 14-7. The only points Ambrose could manage within the first parts of the game were from questionable passes that became 50/50's, or tips and deflections from hits. But the few mental errors made were from the Lions side (mostly serves) and the Broncos were ready to take the set early as the second timeout of the set got called with the Broncos up 19-13.  The Lions immediately pulled a couple points back but despite waking up late in the set it seemed too little too late as the Broncos took the next three points. The Lions put up the good fight until the last point but the Broncos won the set 25-20

It was clear in the first few points of the second set that the Broncos were still focused but Ambrose was starting to realize they would need to play harder if they wanted to walk away with points. Olds had a decided lead and if they kept playing hard they would keep it for the rest of the set as well as the game. Still every point of this game had been as intense as the last as the Lions decided to call their timeout being down 9-4 without managing to create anything they could build off of besides a couple good rallies and couple points. The game was close even though the Broncos had doubled the Ambrose score again 10-5. Every point had at least a few good back and forth rallies and sometimes more but the Broncos were here to play and even mixing and matching some of their bench players into the mix didn't seem to have any negative effects they all were playing in sync and their attackers were earning their points convincingly. The Broncos couldn't quite extend the lead but Ambrose called their first timeout of the set still trailing by 5 a bit past the midway point. The Lions were finally starting to break down the Broncos defense but every time they would get a point the Broncos would make it very difficult during the rally and the points that followed.

The teams went back and forth with Olds holding a one to two point lead until olds called a timeout at 7-8 for Ambrose. Ambrose then jumped out to a four point lead, including building it up to 17-12 and forcing another Broncos timeout. The Broncos bounced back to bring the score to 18-16 for Ambrose before Ambrose pushed back to restore their lead to 22-17. The teams swapped points until a monstrous Thundersky Walkingbear block brought the score to 23-19 for Ambrose. The teams then played side out volleyball until Ambrose won the third set 25-20.

The Broncos jumped out to an early 5-1 lead in the fourth set forcing an Ambrose timeout . Ambrose cut into the lead slightly with River Thomas getting a kill to help their momentum while up 12-7. Ambrose eventually bounced back to make the score 13-12. The game continued very close in score for the rest of the set with neither team being able to shake the other. Broncos had the mentality to win the set, but in the end Ambrose wasn't ready for the game to end and took the fourth set 25-23

The fifth set had a very strong start for the Broncos. They seemed to be fed up with not winning the match earlier, so they forced Ambrose to call the first timeout right after taking the first three points. They continued after the timeout with a great block from Mattheus Franca. Ambrose grabbed a point back but ended up calling another timeout as the Broncos held the lead 6-1. The Broncos continued this play with great defense on every part of their side. After the first couple points of the switch, Ambrose started to gain some momentum from lapses in Broncos offense, but being down 8-4 is still a lot to catch up from. It wasn't until the Walkingbear brothers hit two great cross court hits from the outsides almost back-to-back to bring the Broncos up 11-5 that it felt the Broncos were very much in control. But everyone on the court was getting involved offensively and defensively as Mattheus Franca made a great solo block to make the score 14-6. The Broncos took the game a couple points later 15-7.

Player of the game for the Ambrose University Lions with 13 digs, 12 kills, and 1 block was Adrian Stranberg. The Olds College Pit Barbeque player of the game with 13 digs and 6 assists, was Davis Wiens.

Olds led the game in kills 45-36, service aces 2-1 and blocks 20-11 while Ambrose led the game in assists 30-29 and digs 49-37.

Thundersky Walkingbear had a game high 18 kills, Mason Muller had a game high 23 assists, Ryzen Walkingbear had a game high two service aces, and River Thomas had a game high five blocks for the Broncos.

To learn more about Olds College, the Olds College Broncos and the volleyball team go to @OldsBroncos on Twitter and Instagram.