Thriller night

Rattlers volleyball returns with pair of nail-biters at the Snake Pit

Mark Porter, adding he wanted more out of his veteran players. “Our top guys didn’t play good enough over the weekend so we had to put in some younger guys, some guys whose playing time might be a little bit more limited.”

Vitor Pereira led the Rattlers with 15 kills and 13 digs while Alfred Dalevik posted 12 kills with three aces and nine digs and Joao Pedro Freire had 10 kills and six digs. Brenan Kuffert had eight kills, Brody Dolter added seven more and Kreggan Scharnatta dug out eight.

While Porter says his vets struggled to find their rhythm, he was pleased by the effort he saw from rookies like Chad Sieben. The first-year setter was called upon to step in for sophomore starter Avery Triggs and helped lead his team back to victory with 20 assists on the night. Triggs had 21. “Avery is our starting setter but he didn’t deliver the ball well enough last night, so we went with the rookie in Chad,” said Porter. “Chad came in and did a very good job for a guy in his first ACAC match. Tony Albizzati led the Kodiaks offence with 13 kills and Dax Whitehead recorded a game-high 17 digs on defence.

Women fall short of comeback

The Rattlers women’s volleyball team rallied to force the Lethbridge Kodiaks into a fifth set for the second night in a row at Saturday’s home opener, but fell two points shy of their first win of the ACAC season in a 25-20, 25-18, 18-25, 20-25, 15-13 loss.

Amber Stigter had a game-high 22 kills to help lead her team back to a tiebreaking set after falling into a 2-0 hole, while Shaya Suchy led the defence with 20 digs and setter Rachel Stewart logged 35 assists — but the Kodiaks rebounded to stave off another comeback attempt.

Kristine Ward led Lethbridge with 18 kills and added 12 digs, while Laura Serafini added 12 kills and Reina Hirata led the defence with 16 digs.

Medicine Hat’s Brooke Christie had a game-high four service aces.

The setback puts the Rattlers at 0-2 on the season entering next weekend’s home-and-home set with the SAIT Trojans.

NEWS PHOTO MO CRANKER Medicine Hat College Rattlers women's volleyball player Kennedy Lewis blows a ball past the Lethbridge College Kodiaks during the third set Friday at MHC. The Kodiaks won 3-2.