Kodiaks put up a fight

The Lethbridge College Kodiaks women’s volleyball team went out swinging.

The Kodiaks lost 3-1 to the Briercrest Clippers in Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference play Friday night at the Val Matteotti Gymnasium.

The loss drops the Kodiaks to 1-6 while the ACAC South Division-leading Clippers remain undefeated at 7-0, but Kodiaks head coach Anna Schwark credited her team for going in for the kill when the chance presented itself.

“I think a big change for us was that aggressiveness on the third contact,” she said. “We stayed away from the safe shots and tipping and stuff like that. If we were going to score a point, we were going to score it and I think that really worked in our favour.”

In the men’s game, Kodiaks Dax Whitehead hammered his way into the ACAC record books with his 1,000th career kill, only the fourth men’s volleyball player to accomplish the feat.

In the womens game, the Clippers took the first set 2517, but the Kodiaks answered in the second set with a 25-19 win to tie the game at 1-1.

But Briercrest regrouped in the third and fourth sets with 25-15 and a closer 25-23 win to seal the win.

Carley Doneff paced the Kodiaks with nine kills and Grace Kazanowski chipped in with eight. Kazanowski and Jamie Brown each had three blocks.

Defensively, Carmen Nadeau had 14 digs.

“I’m very happy with today,” said Schwark. “As a coach, I don’t have a ton to complain about. We were a lot more confident and really aggressive on our third contacts. We didn’t miss a lot of serves. So I think it was just minimizing our unforced errors and, for once, not being our own worst enemies has worked out for us.”

The teams play the rematch today, starting with the women’s game at 1 p.m. with the men to follow at 3 p.m.

“The biggest thing is focusing on the good stuff and hoping that grows tomorrow,” said Schwark. “There are always things we can improve upon, but I think we’re focusing on making those serves and overall being really consistent on our serve receive.”

In the men’s game, the Kodiaks — ranked fifth in the CCAA heading into the weekend — posted a 3-1 win (25-15, 25-22, 20-25, 25-22) to move to 7-0 this season.

Carter Hansen led Lethbridge with eight kills, while Whitehead had seven, including his 1,000th career kill. The game was briefly halted as Whitehead received a round of applause.

Mike Hummel and Tony Albizzati also had seven kills Friday.

Zach Wikenheiser had 10 digs and Whitehead added nine.

Hansen and Albizzati had three service aces each and Michael Svab had five blocked shots.