Kodiaks show well in weekend matches

By Lethbridge Herald on November 14, 2022.

Herald photo by RY CLARKE Jamie Brown, of the Kodiaks women’s volleyball team, hits the return on the ball agains The King’s University on Friday at the Val Matteotti gym in this November 2022 file photo. The Kodiaks women's team hope for a win at Augusta to give them a comfortable placing in in the standings.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The Lethbridge College Kodiaks volleyball teams were entrenched in a couple of hard-fought matches on home court over the weekend.

Both teams had to go five sets against The King’s University.The men lost to TKU three sets to two in their home opener match on Friday.

TKU won the opening set 25-22, LC won  the second set 25-29 and prevailed in the third set 27-25.

 TKU tied the match with a 25-18 win in the fourth set and then won the fifth and decisive set 15-12.

“Full marks to King’s, they came down here with the goal of beating a No. 3 ranked team in the country and making a statement,” said Kodiaks men’s coach Greg Gibos.

“And they definitely played with that passion to win. That’s where I thought our athletes played with a little bit of fear of losing and fear of failure. It’s a really great lesson for us and how we can be the best versions of ourselves in moments of stress because we know those are  going to keep coming for us.”

Gibos praised the community support they received in their home opener.

“I can’t speak enough about the volleyball community here in Lethbridge right now,” said Gibos.

“They’ve been so supportive of our athletes and really identifying with what our program is trying to do and  the selfless nature of our athletes. And you know we’re trying to be involved in different areas in different capacities throughout the community. And every time we do something, this community just continues to amaze me.”

Gibos anticipated there were  approximately 1,100 in attendance at the home opener on Friday.

The boys turned around and beat Concordia in three sets on Saturday.

“Losses are never fatal, as long as we learn from them, and I think we did a lot of learning,” said Gibos.

“And I thought we proved that the next day leading into Saturday, as we were a really motivated group. And  we took care of the ball much better on Saturday.”

Gibos said it just shows how much work they put in to prepare for the season because they were amped and ready to roll on Saturday afternoon.

“Yeah, just our mentality,” said Gibos.

“(The) biggest one for us was just that desire to win … when you can switch that mind set to one of  being hungry and positive, it’s huge.”

The men’s team’s record is now at 6-1.

As for the women’s team, they lost  to TKU in five sets on Friday before ending the weekend with a five-set victory over Concordia on Saturday.

LC took the first set 25-21, TKU won the second set by the same score, the Kodiaks snatched the third set 25-19, before TKU took the last two sets 25-22 and 15-12 respectively.

“It was really satisfying to know that the hard work we’ve been putting in , especially those older girls, that like now it’s  paying off,” said women’s coach Anna Schwark.

“We have become the team that we’ve always wanted to be because we’ve worked hard and can compete with the best in Canada now. It really sucked being so close to getting that win because I do really think the fifth set could have gone either way.”

Schwark felt the girls had confidence going into Saturday’s game against Concordia.

“We were definitely confident we could get the job done in three or four sets,” she said.

“But after all the energy that  we expended on Friday — like a couple of those girls said, I really hope the game is over in three, because I don’t know if I could physically play five more sets of volleyball. Sure enough, we ended up in the fifth set against Concordia … We were too tired and didn’t have enough turnaround time. But the girls just dug deep and worked hard, so it was still a big win.”

After the weekend matches, the women’s record stands at 5-2.

The teams will now prepare for  two road games at Red Deer Polytechnic on Nov. 25-26.