OLDS - The Olds College women’s volleyball team lost 3-1 (20-25, 25-17, 25-18, 25-22) to the SAIT Trojans in the Broncos home opener Saturday, Oct. 26 at the Ralph Klein Centre.
The first set was a close match, with neither team being able to take much momentum, until SAIT went on a run to take a 12-7 lead. Olds took a timeout and forced SAIT to take a timeout when the Broncos took a 18-17 lead. SAIT was unable to get momentum back and Olds went on to win the set 25-20.
In the second set, SAIT pulled ahead early and kept a two-point lead for the early part of the game. The Broncos called a few timeouts to try to get a push back, including at 13-9 and 21-15 for SAIT, but were unable to pull the momentum away from SAIT, who went on to win the set 25-17.
The Broncos got the first point of the third set, but SAIT responded with a 7-3 run to take a 7-5 lead. The Broncos went on a run of their own to take an 8-7 lead. Samantha Laboucan’s strong serving brought Olds to an 11-10 lead. SAIT responded with a 3-0 run before Georgia Loucks ended the run.
SAIT went on a run again to take a 17-12 lead before Kayley Lloyd played a ball off the SAIT block to stop the momentum. Lloyd started another run with a strong kill to make the score 20-14 for SAIT. Olds took a timeout but SAIT took the third set 25-18.
The fourth set was similar to the third, with SAIT jumping out to an 8-4 lead. Olds took a timeout at 14-8 for SAIT and Keira MacKenzie responded with a great kill to try to shift the momentum.
The Broncos pulled the score to 16-13, and then the teams played side-out volleyball until the Broncos went on a run with Janeen Pellat up to serve bringing the score to 19-18 for SAIT and forcing a SAIT timeout. The teams kept playing sideout volleyball with SAIT pulling away at the end to take the set 25-22.
Player of the game for SAIT was Katelyn Hayley with a game high 30 assists to go with two kills, two service aces, nine digs and one stuff block. The Pit Barbecue player of the game for the Broncos was Searra Schoepfner with six kills, two service aces and three stuff blocks.
The Broncos led the game with 25 assists and six stuff blocks while SAIT held the advantage in the game with 47 digs, and both teams had 38 kills and six service aces.
Tabitha Martin had a team high 13 kills and a game high three service aces for Olds. Natalya Hauser had a team high of 27 assists and Francesca Sandini had a game high 20 digs for Olds.
To learn more about Olds College, the Olds College Broncos and the volleyball teams go to gobroncos.ca, like the Facebook page and follow @OldsBroncos on Twitter and Instagram.
Jadon Frank is a game day events and promotions programmer for Olds College Broncos athletics.
