Rozdeba leads Rattlers past Queens
Men’s volleyball
The Medicine Hat Rattlers women’s basketball team battled back into the win column with a tight 54-47 victory over the Queens on Saturday at Red Deer College.
Medicine Hat managed to hold the Queens to 15 points or fewer in all four quarters, but it took until the third for the Rattlers to find their offensive stride.
After trailing by three at the half, the Rattlers took over a seven-point lead with a commanding third quarter and held on for the victory in an evenly-matched fourth.
“We challenged the whole team to have better rebounding in Saturday’s game against Red Deer and we did,” said Rattlers head coach Clayton Nielsen. “Red Deer is hard to play sometimes, so it was good to be able to beat them and get out of our weekend with a split.”
The win follows up Friday’s narrow loss to the Broncos in Olds and puts the Rattlers at 5-1 on the Alberta Colleges Athletics Conference season.
Post Katelyn Rozdeba led the Rattlers with 18 points and 10 rebounds while Kendall Kuntz and Morgan Muir both added eight points. Muir also had five steals and five assists.
“(Rozdeba) played awesome all weekend,” said Nielsen. “Red Deer didn’t have an answer for her. I think we need to maybe even utilize her a little bit more in our offence to make sure we’re really making easier shots because she’s closer to the basket.”
Harneet Sidhu had 19 points in the loss, dropping the Queens to 0-6.
Men’s basketball
The Medicine Hat Rattlers men’s basketball team slipped to 4-2 on the ACAC season with a 90-87 loss to the Kings on Saturday at Red Deer College.
Five Rattlers finished with 14 points or more, led by a 17-point effort from Jaamel Slack and a double-double from DeAngelo Ashley with 14 boards and 14 points. But the Kings countered with an equally varied attack and escaped with the narrow victory. Spencer Klassen led Red Deer’s offence with 26 points to help guide the Kings to 4-2.
The Rattlers basketball teams return to the hardwood Friday in Ambrose against the Lions.
The Medicine Hat Rattlers women’s volleyball team extended their rivals’ losing streak to nine games with a second consecutive three-set sweep over the Kodiaks (25-15, 25-21, 25-16) on Saturday at Lethbridge College.
Brooke Christie led the Rattler attack with nine kills and added six digs, while setter Jennifer Saj picked up 21 assists and Janelle Neyron dug out 13 on defence.
Kodiaks outside hitter Carley Doneff — a former McCoy Colt — led the Kodiaks with eight kills while Andie Curran added 10 digs on defence.
Medicine Hat climbed to 5-3 with the win, while the Kodiaks slipped to 1-9. The Rattlers men’s volleyball was unable to knock the Kodiaks off their perfect stride on Saturday at Lethbridge College.
Alfred Dalevik led had 13 kills, Dexter Mackie had 12 and Zachary Frank added 11 to help Medicine Hat steal a set, but the Kodiaks prevailed in four sets (25-20, 26-24, 25-27, 25-14) to improve their ACAC-best record to 10-0.
Rattlers setter Nikola Sreckovic had 41 assists in the loss, while Austyn Ducharme dug out 14.
The Kodiaks were led to victory by a 29-kill effort from Carter Hansen, while Zach Wikenheiser picked up 52 assists and Matt Primose added 13 digs.
The Rattlers volleyball teams return to the Snake Pit Friday to host the Briercrest Clippers.