Rustlers Weekend Recap - November 28, 2022
The first half of the ACAC season has ended for Lakeland's hockey, volleyball and basketball squads.
First, Rustlers women's hockey earned another important split this past weekend.
Lakeland was on the road to face the Olds Broncos. On Friday, they gave up an early goal, which held out as the only tally for either team that evening. Mackenzie Dojahn made 18 saves for the Rustlers and Madelynn Mann earned POG honours, but the squad was unable to come back in the 1-0 loss.
Saturday saw a bounce back effort from the Rustlers. After giving up the first goal of the game again, the team scored five times to win 5-1. Hailey Carothers and Mackenzie Stafford both had a goal and two assists, while Ellie Baril also scored twice. Chantal Weller stopped 18 shots in the victory.
The win moves Lakeland to 3-3-1, third in the women's division. They start the second half by hosting exhibition contests against the Medicine Hat Rattlers and pick up in league play again on Jan. 28 at home against the SAIT Trojans.
The 2nd ranked team in the CCAA came into the weekend having won several in a row against the Vikings, who entered Friday with a 6-3 record. After a few impressive swings from the visitors kept the score momentarily close, the Rustlers quickly separated themselves with strong serving and even stronger attacking. Lakeland was in command all night, winning in straight sets 25-14, 25-19, 25-9.
Libero Rebecca Olenick was Player of the Game for Augustana, while Avery Bates had another monstrous outing on the right-side for the home team, including 9 kills. Jenay Varga, who leads the league in kills-per-set, had 10 kills.
When Lakeland played Augustana a night later, it was a very different atmosphere and a very different result.
The game led with a shock as the home side took the first set to hand the Rustlers their first set loss in their 11th game of the season, 25-23. The Viking took that momentum and rolled over their guest in the second, 25-10 to go up two sets to none.
Their 10-match win streak on the line, the Rustlers battled back to take both the third and fourth sets, forcing a fifth and deciding set. Unfortunately, the Vikings were able to grab an early lead, riding it out to win 15-9.
Varga had 15 kills and Jana Laing had 28 assists. The Vikings not only handed the Rustlers their first loss of the season but also their first set loss of the year. However, Lakeland remains first in the North, just ahead of the undefeated King's Eagles
Meanwhile, the men snapped their recent losing skid with a solid effort against the Augustana Vikings.
An opponent that historically plays the Rustlers tough, the Vikings made things difficult early in the Friday match. A back and forth first set ended with the visitors winning 27-25.
In the second, Lakeland applied steady serving pressure, which lead to advantages in the rest of the game. Despite some scrappy defence, Augustana couldn't match the Rustlers efficiency, with the home side winning 25-20, 25-13, 25-19.
Jake Christiansen and Lane Blight won POG for the away and home teams respectively. In the first set, Blight became the all time leader in assists for the men's volleyball program at Lakeland College, an honour which earned him Athlete of the Week. He finished with 87 assists for the weekend.
Augustana struck first again on Saturday, however, it would be the Rustlers taking all the momentum in the second set as they hit .571 and went on to win the match 3-1 Mason Short had a match high 16 kills.
Looking ahead to the second half of the season, the Rustlers will head south to play the Ambrose University Lions and the Lethbridge College Kodiaks Jan. 13-14. The following weekend is a home and away with the Eagles, which should be a pivotal matchup for both squads.
The women's basketball squad had another tough result, losing two key games to the Augustana Vikings. Friday's road game was a shootout, where the Vikings were hitting at above 50 percent in the 77-64 final. On Saturday, both defenses stepped up, but the Rustlers were again on the wrong side of the tilt, shooting less than 30 percent from the field in a 67-56 loss.
Paula Ortiz scored 29 points between both games, leading her team each night. With a 3-7 record heading into the Christmas break, the team will use a trip to Montana as a building block to going on a run in January and February.
The men fared much better, narrowly earning a sweep of the Vikings.
Augustana lead after Friday's opening quarter, before the Rustlers stormed back to lead 56-41 going into the fourth. There, the Vikings outscored the visitors 23-8 to send the game to overtime, tying the score at 64 with less than 20 seconds remaining. Fortunately, the Rustlers were able to outlast the home side, winning 74-71.
Noah Horobetz Simpson lead the team with 14 points in the win.
On Saturday, the Rustlers were strong on the defensive end throughout the night, holding the Vikings to just 26 points in the first half and lead 69-42 heading into the fourth quarter. There the visitors were able to cut the deficit to 15, but it was too little too late, as the home team took the victory 85-70.
Baha Salma was the Rustlers POG, posting 20 points and 5 assists. Lakeland improves to 5-5 heading into the Christmas break.
Both basketball teams are back at home Jan. 13-14 for a homestand against the NWP Wolves.