Women's Volleyball Huskies still in thick of ACAC playoff race after losses to Rustlers

Now entering the final stretch of the 2024-25 Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) Regular Season, the Keyano Huskies Women’s Volleyball team remain firmly focused on making it to the conference’s second season.  
 
Those chances took a small hit over the weekend in Lloydminster with a pair of losses to the Lakeland College Rustlers, though the Huskies certainly aren’t alone in feeling the wrath of the defending national champions who have yet to even drop a set this season.
 
“We knew going in it would be pretty hard,” Head Coach Tommy Sloan said of facing the now 13-0 Rustlers. “Friday, we didn’t get much going; it wasn’t our best. We blocked well, we played some tough defence.” 
 
“Moving into the Saturday was just let’s take the things we did well and let’s see if we can find some of those things that we normally do well. We were much more competitive on the second day.”  

After Friday’s 3-0 (11-25, 19-25, 8-25), the Huskies put up a strong fight in Saturday’s first set, before ultimately falling by a similar 3-0 (26-28, 16-25, 16-25) score.  

“I like how we responded in that set after the third set on Friday night was probably our toughest set,” Sloan added. “Being able to come out Saturday and show that we had some fight back was really positive. I liked that as a sign of our resilience and our tenacity.  
 
“We had set points in that set, we had some opportunities. The next step now is just finishing those opportunities.”   

The losses dropped the Huskies to 10-5 on the season. With four games left, the Huskies will have a bye week to prepare for their two most important weekends of the season, needing at least two, if not three, wins from their weekends against the Augustana Vikings and The King’s University Eagles to secure that final playoff spot in the division. 

“It’s nice to get a long prep for what could be some of our most important games of the year,” continued Sloan. “We’ve got to manage our energy levels and our fitness and injuries and what not.”  
 
The Huskies return to the home court on Friday, February 6, hosting the Augustana Vikings at the Syncrude Sport & Wellness Centre. First serve is at 6:00pm Friday and 1:00pm Saturday.