Thunder Strike First But Ultimately Fall to Ooks

EDMONTON, AB (November 6, 2021) – The Concordia University of Edmonton (CUE) Thunder men's volleyball team wrapped up their exhibition season Saturday night as they welcomed the NAIT Ooks. The Thunder were able to take the first set, but it was all NAIT from there as the Ooks took this one 3-1.

The Thunder came out hot in the first set as they jumped out to an early lead over the Ooks courtesy of a dominant serving performance from #10 Brenan Kuffert. NAIT was able to make things interesting late in the set, but the Thunder held on to win 26-24. From there, however, it was all NAIT as the Ooks came roaring back in the second set. After jumping out to an early lead, NAIT never looked back as they took the second set 25-14. This momentum was carried into the third set as NAIT once again took an early lead and carried it to a 25-17 set victory. The Thunder were able to bounce back in the fourth set as they kept things tight in a back and forth set, but the Ooks were ultimately able to hang on to take the set 25-23 to take the game three sets to one.

After the game, Thunder head coach Ken McLaughlin commented "our best performance of the exhibition season so far. We really took charge of the match early from the service line courtesy of Brenan Kuffert. There's lots left to work on, however, as we aim to prepare for Lakeland next weekend to start our ACAC regular season campaign."

The Thunder are now set to return to regular season ACAC Conference action for the first time since February 2020. As Coach McLaughlin mentioned, the Thunder kick their campaign off next Friday night as they welcome the Lakeland College Rustlers.