Men's Volleyball Huskies close out regular season with split
The Keyano Huskies Men’s Volleyball team have their heads held high going into conference championships after closing out their 2024-25 regular season schedule with a weekend split in Edmonton against The King’s University Eagles.
“Being where we are at, already had the North finished up there, we wanted to go out and use Friday as a warmup for conference championships,” Head Coach Keegan Kuhr said. “Saturday, we wanted to get some guys out there that deserved it.
“They worked really hard all year and they deserved to get some of their first starts of the year or their careers. All in all it was good.”
Friday, the Huskies collected their 12th straight-sets win against the Eagles (25-19; 25-12; 25-21). Rafael Parada led the Huskies’ attack with 10 kills while Silva picked up seven kills in addition to three blocks. Brody Kopec and Preston Yole each added five kills while João Cunha had four kills in the single set he appeared in. Noah Gagne added 29 assists in the setter role.
While the Huskies lost Saturday’s matchup in four sets (23-25, 25-21; 24-26, 22-25), the game was used by Kuhr as a chance to get some of the program’s non-regulars into the lineup.
“We’ve had certain guys that have gone out and gotten most of the wins this year, but we’re a 20-man unit that is as deep as we’ve ever been,” Kuhr added. “To let the guys go out there and get a little bit of confidence, get a little game competition is always a good opportunity when you have games in hand like we did.”
Cameron Calhoun stepped into a larger offensive role for the match, tallying 15 kills for a season-high performance. Kai Rosnau also found himself with double-digit kills, securing 10 in the match. Mike Yole turned in one of the top performances of his ACAC career, recording nine kills in the match.
Nikola Sreckovic earned the start in his final ACAC regular season game, securing 32 assists. Rookie Carter Mullner made his third on-court appearance of the season, totaling five kills in addition to a pair of aces.
“We wanted to win and we played to win and obviously I coached to win, but those guys deserved that start,” Kuhr said. “We’re not too worried about what happened on Saturday.”
King concludes ACAC career among program's all-time best
Anderson King appeared in the 76th and 77th matches of his ACAC career over the weekend. Adding eight digs to his career stat line, King cemented himself in fourth place all-time in the Huskies program for all-time digs.
Even more impressive with his longevity was the games marking his third time he had appeared in a full season. Outside of his rookie season, King appeared in 71 of a possible 73 ACAC regular season games.
Parada hits double-digit kills for 21st time
The ACAC Rookie of the Year from 2023-24 closed out a spectacular second season Friday with 10 kills. The performance marked his 21st double-digit kill game of his 34-game ACAC career.
He ultimately finished 15th in the entire conference in kills (155) and ninth in kills per set (2.98).
Huskies and Clippers set to meet in ACAC quarter-final
The Huskies will now head south to Lloydminster, Alta. for the 2025 ACAC Men’s Volleyball Championship, starting Thursday, February 20.
There, they’ll open the tournament against the Briercrest College Clippers on Thursday at 3:00pm. The winner of that match will face the winner of the first quarter-final between the NAIT Ooks and Lethbridge Polytechnic Kodiaks.
On the other side of the bracket, the South Division’s top seed, the Red Deer Polytechnic Kings, will take on the University of Alberta – Augustana Vikings while the host Lakeland College Rustlers will battle the Olds College Broncos.