Men's Volleyball Huskies top Thunder in four sets on home court
The Keyano Huskies Men's Volleyball team topped the visiting Concordia University Thunder in four sets (25-20, 18-25, 25-18, 25-17) Friday at the Syncrude Sport and Wellness Centre in Fort McMurray, Alta.
"I'm happy we won," said Head Coach Keegan Kuhr. "That second set got away from us, but I'm happy with the three sets that we won. We're trying to find our groove, we're trying to find that ideal performance state.
"We just need everybody to try and get to that and buy into that mentality and see if we can't keep this ball rolling."
Beginning 2022 with the win marked their fifth-straight victory, keeping themselves a part of a three-way race for the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference's North Division crown.
Trey Weinmeier led the Huskies with 16 kills while Athus Silva collected eight kills of his own. Radoslaw Brzozowski returned to the lineup with seven kills and three service aces.
After the Huskies won the opening set, the visiting Thunder answered back with a set win of their own to level the playing field. The Huskies would regain control to close out the match in the third and fourths though.
"It was a little ugly out there at times, but it was nice to see the boys respond and put together a good third and fourth set to finish it up," continued Kuhr.
Chance Wilkins had 18 assists while Simon Boily-Tremblay had 14 to his credit. Wilkins also joined Brzozowski with a trio of service aces. Anderson King led the Huskies with 10 kills.
Preston Yole collected three kills, two digs, one block, and one ace in the match. From his perspective, the Huskies were able to refocus after the second set loss to regain control of the match.
"I thought the boys played pretty good," said Yole. "We were a little slow at the start and it kind of caught up to us in the second set, but through the game we got stronger and came together as a team."
James Bryce led the way for the Thunder with seven kills and a block. Wyatt Turnbull also equalled Bryce's figure of seven kills. Carson Hillburn had four kills to his credit and Ethan Murray had a pair of kills.
Ashburn led the Thunder with 21 digs while Turnbull's six digs led his side. Murray also collected four blocks in the match.
Silva and Bryce earned Player of the Game honours for their respective sides.
The game marked the ACAC debut of Edjustin Silva, a McMurrayite product, with the Huskies. The libero came through with a strong save attempt on what would result in a Concordia point, but his brief appearance still earned some positive early reviews.
"I look forward to him growing with this program throughout the years to come," said Kuhr. "He's someone that's working hard, asks lots of questions.
"It's nice to see local guys get an opportunity to represent the Huskies and represent their hometown."
The two teams will reconvene on Saturday, January 15 at 1:00 p.m. for their weekend finale at the Syncrude Sport and Wellness Centre.