The Briercrest College Clippers are returning to the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference women’s volleyball championship tournament for the 10th season in a row.
And while it wasn’t the traditional automatic berth the perennial ACAC title contenders are used to, the Clippers were still able to punch their ticket to the tournament with a 3-1 (25-17, 23-25, 25-21, 25-22) victory over the SAIT Trojans in the play-in game at Margaret P. Reimer gymnasium on Friday night.
Briercrest advanced to the winner-take-all contest thanks to a 10-9 regular season record that saw the Clippers finish in fourth place in the ACAC South Division. SAIT had finished a single win behind Briercrest at 9-10, making Friday’s battle a matter of who would come up big when the games matter the most.
As the scores would indicate, the Clippers would do just that, led by a stellar performance at the net by Julia Beer. The third-year outside hitter came up with 22 kills on the night to lead the offence, while fourth-year middle Faith Buhler continued her solid season with 15 kills and eight digs.
Fifth-year setter Jess Zacharias had seven aces, 38 assists and also was impressive defensively with 10 digs. First-year outside hitter Brynn Hardy led the way in that category with 15 digs. Peacock grad Summer Okerstrom had a kill and three digs to her credit.
Briercrest will now face North Division champion Lakeland College (18-1) in their ACAC championship opener on Thursday night in Red Deer, with the semifinals set for Friday and medal games on Saturday.
Briercrest faced Lakeland in their final game of the regular season and dropped a 3-0 (25-7, 25-16, 25-16) decision on Feb. 11.
While it will take a big upset for the Clippers to advance, they have no shortage of experience when it comes to winning in the ACAC playoffs -- throughout their current streak of postseason appearances, Briercrest won the championship twice in 2016 and 2020, in addition to silver medal showings in 2018 and 2019.
The Clippers men's volleyball team is in action Saturday night when they host Ambrose College in their play-in game. Game time is 6:30 p.m. in Caronport.
You can follow along with all the action next weekend at www.acac.ab.ca.
