Kodiaks volleyball sweep Briercrest

By Lethbridge Herald on December 5, 2022.

Herald photo by JUSTIN SEWARD Lethbridge College Kodiaks’ Ben St. Pierre bumps the ball as Gavin Moes looks on during Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference action against Briercrest at Val Matteotti gym on Saturday.

The Lethbridge College Kodiaks volleyball teams went a perfect 4-0 against the Briercrest College  Clippers over the weekend to go into the semester break on a high.

The women’s team won in three sets to close out their first half on  Saturday at Val Matteotti gym.

The win came on the heels of a five-set win on Friday.

“We really I think learned a lot last night just about what it means to fully commit  and live in the moment and have fun, and not let our intense want of winning and wanting to medal this year get in the way,” said women’s volleyball head coach Anna Schwark, after Saturday’s match.

“So today was really just like asking ourselves the questions constantly, Am I having fun?, Am I doing the best I can? Am I being a good teammate?And I just find that when we answer yes to those questions, we’re a better team and we have more fun. The team that has more fun usually wins.”

Schwark was really happy that the team’s strength and conditioning and agility work is paying off.

“Because without that, I think we probably would have be left in the dust maybe last night (Friday),” said Schwark.

“So that’s really paying off and today too. It’s nice to not have to face the struggle and not have to have such a slow start where we feel that heat of OK now we’re going to start. It shouldn’t take us a set to warm up and sometimes it does. So it was nice just for the team to prove to itself that like this is the team we can be and that  we really are and that we should be.”

The women’s team sits in second place in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference’s South Division with a 7-4 record.

The Kodiaks men’s team won both of their matches by identical three sets to one set scores, in what coach Greg Gibos considered to be a big weekend for them heading into the break after a rough weekend in Red Deer the week before.

“It was really a good chance for our athletes to respond in a positive way,” said Gibos.

“And so we knew we’ve got a great Briercrest team coming in, and so we really wanted to play the best volleyball of the semester this weekend. And so  I thought we had moments of that and we’re really happy with the way the boys performed.”

Gibos said, “For us, it’s finding joy playing,” when asked about the difference in the match.

“When our guys are having fun and when we’re really just like living in the moment and just enjoying  playing the sport we love doing, then we’re unstoppable,” said Gibos.

“And I think you could see that on display today, where there may have been a mistake or there may have been something and we laughed it off.”

The men are first in the South Division with an 8-3 record.

Basketball

The men’s basketball team lost their second in a row heading into the break after an 84-73 setback at SAIT on Saturday.

Their record is now at 9-2 and sit in first place.

The women’s team were edged 69-64 by SAIT on Saturday and have a record of 7-4 and sit second in the division.