Weekend Preview: Volleyball Huskies head south to face Kodiaks, Trojans
Women’s Volleyball Preview
Game: Friday, November 15 vs. Lethbridge Polytechnic Kodiaks (1-5) at 6:00pm, Saturday, November 16 vs. SAIT Trojans (1-5) at 6:00pm
Location: Val Matteotti Gym (Lethbridge, Alta.) & Rally Pointe (Calgary, Alta.)
Watch: https://acactv.ca/ & Telus Optik 1998
The Keyano Huskies Women’s Volleyball team head back onto the road as one of the conference’s two remaining undefeated programs looking to find more success in the ACAC’s South Division.
“It’s two teams pretty hungry for wins,” Head Coach Tommy Sloan said of the weekend's opposition. “You couple that with the long road trip that we have to do to get there, we’ve got to make sure that we’re ready to go and we have the right mindset to prepare with some intentionality.”
Facing off against the Kodiaks and Trojans, they’ll encounter two of the teams in a three-way tie for fourth place in the conference. Considering that five of the seven teams in the South Division currently have just one win to their credit, the Huskies will take on teams not only eager to hand the Huskies their first loss, but gain ground in their respective division as well.
“I do think that the North has had a lot of success against the South and so those South teams are really desperate for wins,” Sloan added. “So whether there’s a target on our back or not, I think that the mindset from the other side is going to be pretty desperate.”
The Huskies have won the last two regular season meetings against the Kodiaks, including a reverse sweep at the Syncrude Sport & Wellness Centre last year. Against the Trojans, both sides have each claimed a win in their previous two meetings with both programs earning straight-sets victories on each other’s home court. The Huskies will look to continue that trend Saturday in Cowtown.
Player to watch: Saige Kehoe (Saskatoon, Sask.) leads the conference with 0.90 service aces per set, totaling 18 to date. Eleven of those came on the team’s last trip through the South Division and a repeat performance would go a long way in helping the Huskies achieve a similar result.
Men’s Volleyball Preview
Game: Friday, November 15 vs. Lethbridge Polytechnic Kodiaks (6-0) at 8:00pm, Saturday, November 16 vs. SAIT Trojans (4-2) at 8:00pm
Location: Val Matteotti Gym (Lethbridge, Alta.) & Rally Pointe (Calgary, Alta.)
Watch: https://acactv.ca/ & Telus Optik 1998
After a win at home, the Keyano Huskies Men’s Volleyball team will return to the road to take on a pair of the South Division’s top teams.
The Kodiaks are one of the ACAC’s two remaining undefeated programs and the Trojans are currently third in a competitive division that features fives teams with a .500 record or better.
“We just want to go down there and play really good volleyball,” Head Coach Keegan Kuhr said. “Against Ambrose, good service pressure, good block defence, and the offence was going pretty well.
“Those are things we’re going to look to try and carry over as we head into this Lethbridge game. Obviously they’re undefeated and they’ve got a good crowd and a good team so it’ll be a really good test for us here.”
The Huskies won both matches last year, though those results came in front of the home crowd at the Syncrude Sport & Wellness Centre. They’ll have their hands full in both games with a Trojans squad that has almost matched last year’s win total through their first six games and appear on pace to challenge for a top spot in the division.
“SAIT’s kind of a scrappy team that has a pretty good record right now,” Kuhr added. “They’re just kind of a team that brings a lot of energy and they are that team that they got out there and they play and they don’t really have too many worries out there.
“It’s going to be two hard matches. We need to go down there and play our best to be successful.”
Player to watch: Athus Silva (Campinas, Brazil) leads the conference in blocks per set with 1.07, which will be key when the top two blocking teams square off in Lethbridge Friday night. The fifth year middle blocker from Brazil has 266 blocks to his name during the course of his ACAC career and will be key to the Huskies’ succeeding against two strong opponents this weekend.