CALGARY, ALTA., (Oct. 20, 2018) — It did not take SAIT Trojans men’s volleyball coach Sean McKay very long to dissect their Saturday night loss.
Looking for a weekend split with the Lethbridge College Kodiaks, the Trojans were instead handed a sweep, thanks to a 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 26-24) loss in their Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) game played at SAIT’s Campus Centre.
“Besides the last set, we were not good in our small skills like serving and passing,” said a visibly upset Trojans head coach, Sean McKay, whose team was also beat 3-1 Friday night on the road. “And that’s because we were not in control of our emotions at all. Guys were way too hyped on highs and then angry on lows. No skills are going to be properly executed if you are not in control of your emotions.”
SAIT falls to 3-2 on the year, while the Kodiaks are 4-0.
From the first serve, the Trojans appeared to have trouble with the Kodiaks. Not helping matters was the five service errors the Trojans posted in the opening set, handing the Kodiaks valuable points.
The second set seemed to start well for the home team, who fought to an 11-11 tie early on in the set. However, the Kodiaks were able to take control of the set from there and take a commanding lead into the third.
The final set saw exciting action on both sides of the net. Down 21-17 at one point, the Trojans called timeout. After the small break, SAIT went on a run to tie the match at 22-22.
The teams traded points until the Kodiaks got up 25-24. A service ace by Michael Svab that went off the arms of a SAIT player and into the room ended the match.
Jarett Noel (2nd year, Calgary, Geographic Information Systems) led the Trojans with 13 kills, while teammate Brennen Willis (3rd year, Cochrane, Alta., Welding Engineering Technology) added six kills and five blocks.
Carter Hansen had another big night for the Kodiaks with 19 kills.
The Trojans will regroup and then get back at it next weekend with another tough opponent — the Red Deer College Kings. Friday night’s game is at SAIT at 8pm, Saturday’s rematch will go in Red Deer at 8pm.
“Our lesson from this is that we are not good enough to take anything for granted, we’re not good enough to not play at our emotional, technical or executional best,” McKay ended. “We need train harder to perform better.”
