Men's Volleyball Semester Recap | December 14, 2017
Halfway through the ACAC Volleyball season and the Lakeland Rustlers Men's Volleyball team sits in 7th place in the North Division with a 3-9 match record and 15-28 set record.
The Rustlers started the season with a win, getting a victory in their season opener at home against the King's Eagles. The Rustlers would go on to lose their next four matches before they beat NAIT at the end of October. The Rustlers started November with a win, beating Concordia on November 3rd, but have since lost their last 5 matches.
The Rustlers average nearly 9 kills, 8 assists and 11 digs per set through 43 sets this season. Leading the Rustlers with 2.17 kills per set is second year outside hitter Brayden Griffith, while second year libero Matt Peck, who has spent the season playing as a hitter, adds nearly 2 per set. Second year setter Jose Areliano distributes the ball for the Rustlers, and averages 8 assists per set. Defensively, the Rustlers are led by second year libero Abner Jean Carlo Funez Raudales who averages 3.3 digs per set, while Peck averages 2.16 per set.
Rustlers Head Coach Taylor Dyer saw some good moments from his team and is optimistic about the second semester.
"It was an unfortunate first semester for us," Dyer said, "we just weren't able to close out matches or win on the road. I thought our competitiveness was good throughout, we beat teams that are ranked top three in the North, so I am optimistic about second semester. We need to be more consistent with our ball control, putting the ball in play and limiting our errors. If we can play our game and dictate things on the court, we should be successful."
The Rustlers are now taking a break from practices to focus on exams and have some time with family over the holidays.
The team plans to return to practice December 27th, with the regular season resuming January 5th and 6th when the Rustlers play the Concordia Thunder.
The Rustlers will be in Edmonton on January 5th and return home to host the Thunder on the 6th. The match is set to get underway at 8:00 pm.