Time is now for top teams to show their best
They’ve had the best record in the entire conference the last two years running, so it’s probably time to give the Keyano College Huskies their due.
The Fort McMurray school had a 22-2 mark a year ago, and now a 21-3 season has them seeded first entering the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference men’s volleyball finals in Medicine Hat.
Whether the veteran squad can turn their gaudy record into a championship is what’s motivating them.
“This is the year to push all those demons away,” said head coach Keegan Kuhr, whose team faces the host Rattlers in the last quarter-final tonight. “And we do put that extra little pressure on ourselves, the little chip on our shoulder to go out and perform because we haven’t as the top team in the north the last couple years.”
With eight returnees from last year’s bronze medal-winning side, the Huskies will graduate a good portion of them and know now is their time to strike. Red Deer — which beat them in the 2016 final and the 2017 semis — isn’t here this weekend, though the typically strong South Division is the reason why. SAIT, 20-4, is the weekend favourite because of their division’s historically strong showing at the championships. The Trojans match up with first-time ACAC playoff team Concordia, with the other Day 1 matchups pitting Briercrest against NAIT and King’s against Lethbridge.
“Every week we get a chance to prove ourselves and the standard’s been really high this year,” said SAIT’s Trent Mounter, named the ACAC player of the year Wednesday. “It’s going to be a dogfight between every team, no matter north or south.”
With 18-time champion Red Deer out of the picture it does feel like gold is anyone’s for the taking. Concordia and King’s feel playoff-ready having had to scratch and claw their berths through the last weekend of the regular season, while Lethbridge and Briercrest similarly had to win when it counted to stave off the Kings.
All eight of the coaches are preaching mental toughness.
“I think every team here is going to drop a set this weekend,” said Lethbridge coach Greg Gibos. “I don’t think anyone’s going to run out of here 9-0, so it’s going to be how you respond in moments of crisis.”
With the ACAC north and south divided, opening-round opponents don’t have any experience playing each other outside of pre-season and exhibition sets. Coaches have spent a lot of time going over video the past seven days as a result.
On the day however, execution is everything.
“You’ve got to execute on game day,” said King’s coach Phil Dixon. “We need to win that serve-pass game, which I think most coaches will probably tell you. Our big dogs have got to be big dogs, simple as that.”
Lose on Day 1 and your chances of going to nationals is gone. Alberta will send two teams to Camosun College in British Columbia March 7-10, so it’s finals or bust for anyone wanting to extend their season past Saturday.