Rattlers come all the way back to clinch bronze medal at national championship

The Medicine Hat College Rattlers may have opened the Canadian Collegiate Athletics Association championship on a horrific note, but they dug in their heels and managed to head home with a bronze medal in hand after a five-set win over the host Fanshawe Falcons, (25-20, 22-25, 23-25, 25-23, 21-19).

Rattlers head coach Mark Porter didn’t mince words when it came to their tournament-opening loss — which left them out of the hunt for gold after dropping three straight for a five-set loss to the Camosun Chargers — but says the resolve it took to battle all the way back for bronze is a true testament to their character.

“Let’s face it. That first loss was an absolute mental collapse of Titanic proportion. They could have easily folded up the tent and not cared for the rest of the weekend but they battled through it and came back to win,” said Porter. “It was a real character win. It shows what kind of people they are and shows what our culture is that we’re trying to achieve.”

Isak Helland-Hansen had a staggering 20 kills for Medicine Hat, while Joel Kotyk added 17 and Alfred Dalevik chipped in with 10. Dalevik led the Rattler defence with 16 digs on the day, but he wasn’t alone as Brett Young added 11 and both Cole Sanderson and Helland-Hansen had 10.

Fanshawe’s James Jackson and Sam Otten did all they could to send the crowd home happy — with 29 and 20 kills each, respectively — but it ultimately fell just short in a marathon tiebreaker set.

“There must have been 7-800 people there for the bronze medal match,” said Porter. “It was an outstanding experience, a lifelong memory for the boys and I think they think they’re going to do whatever it takes to get back here next year and in the years to come.”

The Red Deer Kings went on to win gold with a five-set victory over the Titans de Limoilou (25-21, 2518, 24-26, 24-26, 15-12), and Porter says it an indicator of the skillset that lies within the Alberta Colleges Athletics Conference.

“I think certainly SAIT could have come here and represented us very well, finished top five. I think Keyano could have come here and played well and finished top five,” said Porter. “We’ve obviously got the most depth in the country, and the ability to play against Red Deer and those teams every year only makes us better and sets a standard of excellence.”

Kotyk and Helland-Hansen were both named to the tournament allstar team.