Men's Volleyball Huskies close out first semester with sweeps of Clippers, Rattlers

The Keyano Huskies Men’s Volleyball team emerged from their bye-week as focused as they went into it, claiming a pair of home wins to end the first semester with a division-leading 8-1 record.  
 
“To be 8-1, it’s definitely a strong record heading into the break,” Head Coach Keegan Kuhr said. “We’ve got some big matchups coming up once we start hitting the North, but other than our Red Deer match, we did fairly well against the South teams.”  
 
Completing their games against the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference’s (ACAC) South Division, the Huskies stormed to straight-sets wins against the Briercrest College Clippers Thursday (25-15, 26-24, 25-17) and the Medicine Hat College Rattlers Saturday (25-19, 25-23, 25-17).  

“The boys have been coming together, have been working hard, helping each other on the court and outside of it,” Athus Silva said. “The feeling of family at Keyano is huge. I’m very happy about it.” 
 
Both wins took eerily similar paths.  
 
After the Huskies made quick work of the opening sets on both days, the visiting team pushed the Huskies to the edge of the middle set before the Huskies closed out set three with a 25-17 score.  

João Cunha powered through 15 kills in Thursday win. Rafael Parada added seven kills and tied his previous season-high with five aces to lead all players on both sides of the court.  
 
Silva had a team-leading six blocks while Preston Yole added four of his own. Anderson King tied his season-best performance with 16 digs. Fresh off surpassing 1,000 ACAC assists, Noah Gagné collected 33 assists on the home court. 
 
“Rafael’s just always quietly solid,” Kuhr continued of the second-year outside hitter. “He served really well tonight, scored when we needed to; passed a lot of balls. He helped us get it done tonight.”  
 
Saturday, it was more of Cunha as he led the team with 12 kills in the win. Silva had seven kills to go along with five blocks. The Huskies utilized their depth in the win, calling upon the likes of Cameron Calhoun and Mike Yole.  
 
“Today was an interesting game,” Kuhr said Saturday. “Any time you get it done in three, it’s always good.  
 
“Cam [Calhoun] came in a really helped us out. This group is just so committed to each other and it was just another opportunity to show that.”  

Calhoun collected three kills, a pair of digs, and a pair of blocks in the win.  
 
As for the younger Yole, Kuhr said the opportunity arose through hard work. He added four kills and two digs.  

“Mikey’s a guy that’s been training hard for us years,” he said. “It’s nice to reward guys when you’re looking at different lineups.  
 
“Mike is someone that has worked his butt off for the last four years with this program. It’s nice to just get him out there and give him an opportunity. I thought he did well with it.”  

Nikola Sreckovic stepped into setter duties with 23 assists in the match. Brody Kopec added four more kills to complete a 12-kill weekend.  

“I’m really happy for the guys,” King said following Saturday’s match. “It’s a well-needed break. To finish off on two wins is pretty awesome.  

At 8-1, the Huskies lead a pack of three teams that have broken away from the other four in the North Division. While they appear to be a virtual lock for another playoff spot, King and team remained focused on not getting ahead of themselves. 
 
“If I compare it to last year, I think we’re super deep,” King continued of the team’s progress at the end of the first semester. “It just goes to show that we can have guys come in no matter what point of the game.” 
 
The Huskies will start the 2025 portion of their schedule on the road against the Concordia Thunder January 10-11.