Trojans topple defending champion Huskies
There will be a new ACAC men's volleyball champion this year, as the SAIT Trojans upended the defending champion Keyano Huskies in quarterfinal play at the Murray Chevrolet Cadillac 2020 ACAC Men's Volleyball Championship. In a pitched battle between two nationally-ranked teams, the Trojans got out to an early lead and held off a Huskies rally for a 3-1 victory and a berth in the semifinals.
"I thought we played – for the most part – at a consistently high level, which is something we've been working on," said Trojans head coach Dallas Soonias. "We knew they were going to push really hard, so we talked about it. We made sure everybody knew it happened and it is happening. We did our best to hit the reset button and push back because if you just ignore that there's a team pushing at you, if you try to act like it's not happening, it allows it to keep happening."
The Trojans never trailed in the opening set, and broke it wide open mid-way through with a 10-1 run. The strong serving of ACAC all-conference team member Maddux Greves (second year, Bachelor of Business Administration, Calgary), who fired a pair of aces, and Tyler Latu'ila (fifth year, Bachelor of Business Administration, Auckland, New Zealand), who had one ace along with a key block led the Trojans to a 25-14 win.
It was a back-and-forth affair in the second set. Brendan Vanderlinde (third year, Machinist Technician, Sherwood Park) was an offensive force to help his team create some distance over the Huskies in a 25-22 victory. SAIT teased the Huskies as the Huskies took the third set 25-21. ACAC north division rookie of the year Joao Cunha (first year, College Prep, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) came alive with six kills in the set. But Riley Grusing (third year, Civil Engineering Technology, Calgary) helped lead his team to victory in a fourth and deciding set with six kills in a 25-13 win.
"We couldn't pass, we were not ready for that service pressure and we couldn't serve well enough to get them into enough pressure to have Maddox run around the court," said Huskies head coach Keegan Kuhr. "I'm happy we didn't get swept but you know, it's tough to come out here and have your whole season end like that."
The Trojans move into Friday's 6 p.m. semifinal against Lethbridge. Keyano plays a consolation side game against Lakeland at 3 p.m.
Players of the game:
Keyano: Joao Cunha
SAIT: Maddux Greves