By Robb Fenton
It's the kind of match a team wants to play going into the playoffs.
After losing in three sets Friday night, the Lakeland Rustlers women’s volleyball team responded with a heroic effort, coming back from two sets down to win an epic five-set match Saturday against the Briercrest Clippers.
“It was a good weekend for the girls, we definitely showed some serious heart and some fight in us,” Rustlers head coach Taylor Dyer said. “We played them hard Friday night and went down three straight, but all three sets were close and we should have won the first one. Saturday we came out and we definitely made the adjustments we needed to and talked about, and the results were a thrilling five-set victory.”
The Clippers won all three sets in the opening match, but the scores proved the match could have gone either way.
After the tough loss, the Rustlers regrouped and made the necessary changes which resulted in rebounding for the win.
“We were much better defensively Saturday. Friday their (Briercrest) outsides beat us. We made adjustments and our defence played a lot better Saturday all around, so that was the difference.
“We were down two sets and were down in the third set 9-2, so again and again, the girls keep showing the determination they have, their never quit attitude and they feel like they are in every single game they play,” Dyer said of his team’s heart Saturday. “They understand if we play one point at a time, good things will happen.”
Heading into the qualification weekend, Dyer knows how much Saturday is going to mean for his team.
With their backs up against the wall, down in the match and on the road, his team dug down and came up huge when they needed to, proving a lot to themselves and the league.
“Being able to play in that type of environment with a pretty loud crowd and a good atmosphere and be able to play in those tight, tight games and still hold our composure and play good volleyball was key for us,” Dyer said.
Dyer knows the keys to winning the big matches and knows his team is capable, but must execute their game plan and stick to what has made them successful from the start of the season.
“If we continue what we’ve been doing all year long, we should be fine. It’s just a matter of staying strong for two or three days in a row, because that’s what it takes to compete at the next level,” he said.
“That’s what we’re going to need in the playoffs.”
The Rustlers will now battle the King’s Eagles in the qualification round, to see who advances to the provincial tournament.
Having played King’s a lot this season, Dyer and his team know what it takes to be successful and get by the Eagles to advance.
“It’s a pretty good matchup for us, we’ve played them a tonne already, lots of exhibition and twice in the first semester. We match up pretty well,” Dyer said of King’s. “They’re scrappy, they play really good defence so being able to change our shots and being able to find ways to score will be big for us. And making sure we don’t make unforced errors.”
The best-of-three will begin tonight at Lakeland College and gets going at 7 p.m.
Friday, the teams return to Edmonton to King’s College and if needed, Saturday, the teams will return to Lakeland to wrap up the series.