Men's Volleyball Huskies sweep Vikings to surge to top of ACAC North
The Keyano Huskies Men's Volleyball team were tested this weekend on the road, but came away with a pair of wins against the University of Alberta – Augustana Vikings.
Beyond the reward of the two victories, which extended their streak to eight in a row, the Huskies took a big step in further inserting themselves to the conversation for the top spot in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference's North Division.
"Friday, we started a little bit slow and also Augustana had a really good game plan against us and they executed it pretty well those first two sets," said Head Coach Keegan Kuhr. "[We] made a few lineup adjustments and a few changes on our end and we were able to battle back there and steal one there in five.
"Saturday, we talked about what Augustana was doing to be successful on Friday and made a few adjustments. We ended up playing a lot better on that Saturday."
Friday's win (23-25, 22-25, 25-15, 25-22, 15-9) took a full five sets to accomplish, but was a strong test of their resiliency against a capable Vikings squad.
Trey Weinmeier contributed 16 kills while Athus Silva had nine. The trio of Preston Yole, Travis Walls, and Radek Brzozowski each contributed five in the win.
Utilizing his lineup, Kuhr made a few switches to his lineup that helped turn the tide back in the favour of the Huskies. One of those insertions was setter Nikola Sreckovic, who picked up 23 assists, six service aces, and four digs as part of the comeback effort.
"Overall, I'm happy with the weekend, especially coming back from being down two sets to zero," continued Kuhr. "I'm not sure we were doing that many terrible things in the first two sets, but obviously not enough.
"We were able to come out there and turn things around."
Saturday, the Huskies made quick work of things with a three-set victory (25-14, 25-17, 25-22).
Weinmeier had a team-high eight kills while Athus Silva and Walls each had seven. Silva continued to add to his ACAC-leading blocks total with eight more stops to go along with three from Friday's matchup.
"We just talked about doing that skill a little bit better," added Kuhr of the team's block defence. "[Athus] was jumping fairly well on Friday, but he was getting really high and they were swinging pretty low off his block so I just said 'let's focus on getting over the net versus getting as high as we can'.
"He made that little adjustment and found some blocking success with that small little change."
Sreckovic collected 29 assists while playing the entirety of Saturday's sweep. He also added four kills and three digs in the win.
Yole came close to matching his season-high block total with five stops.
The four points earned, combined with a five-set win for the Lakeland Rustlers over the NAIT Ooks, moved the Huskies into first place in the ACAC North Division.
A spot they'd ultimately love to hold onto, the Huskies aren't celebrating yet with plenty of challenges left to face in their remaining six matches, including this coming weekend's triple-header against the Ooks.
"We know we're a good team," said Kuhr. "We know that NAIT and King's are right there with us. All of us want that first place, and obviously we've got NAIT this weekend there.
"It can be a huge swing either way. We're just looking forward to putting our best foot forward this weekend."
The Huskies face the Ooks in a trio of games this weekend in Edmonton, Alta. Friday and Saturday's games are scheduled for a 8:00 p.m. start with Sunday's game scheduled for 3:00 p.m.