The Clippers saw four of their five Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference teams post sweeps over their respective opponents, with all three men’s teams winning both their contests and the women’s volleyball squad doing the same. Only the women’s basketball team were unable to follow suit.
The men’s hockey team picked up a pair of crucial 3-2 wins over Grant MacEwan, while the men’s basketball team defeated Old’s College 94-77 and 98-82 and men’s volleyball took 3-0 and 3-1 wins over the Grizzlies at Margaret P. Reimer gymnasium.
The women’s volleyball squad took 3-0 sweeps over Olds in both contests, while women’s basketball fell 102-68 and 109-65 to the Grizzlies in their two games.
With only six games remaining in the ACAC men’s hockey regular season, the Clippers have suddenly become the hottest team in the league.
Briercrest stretched their winning streak to four games after defeating Grant MacEwan 3-2 on Friday before battling to a 3-2 overtime win on Saturday.
As a result, the Clippers improved to 7-12-2-1 on the season and now sit tied with Concordia for the sixth and final playoff spot, a single point back of fifth place Augustana.
Josiah Friesen, Reagan Poncelet and Josh Boelema all scored in the opening game, with Boelema’s marker with 11:26 gone in the third standing as the game winner.
Dan Dekoning turned aside 42 shots to earn the win, Briercrest had 29 shots on the Griffins.
It was Trey Doell’s chance to be the hero in Saturday’s rematch, as he scored the winner 1:57 into the second overtime to secure the critical two points.
It was the second goal of the game for Doell, with Russell Olson scoring their other marker in the first period.
Dekoning had an incredible game in goal, turning aside 56 shots, while the Clippers had 27 shots on Grant MacEwan.
The Clippers have this weekend off before travelling to Edmonton to face NAIT during the Feb. 14 weekend.
The Clippers men’s basketball team stretched their winning streak to three games, improving to 9-6 on the season and moving into third place in the ACAC South Division.
Briercrest had little difficulty with the Grizzlies in the opening game, taking a 26-17 lead out of the opening quarter and leading 47-36 at the half.
Brandon Tolentino had one of his best games in a Clippers uniform, scoring 30 points while also picking off eight rebounds. Chris Cheatham added 12 points and Nelka Edoa came off the bench to contribute 13.
Saturday’s contest was far closer, but Briercrest was able to fight through some early adversity and a 25-22 first-quarter deficit to lead 45-40 at the break and never look back.
Brolin Simes led all scorers with 22 points, while Moose Jaw product and first-year player Riley Seaborn had the best game of his young ACAC career, going 5-for-8 from the three-point line and finishing with 19 points. Edoa added 17 points and Nicholas Gregersen 10.
The Clippers will host Ambrose University for a pair of games at Margaret P. Reimer gymnasium this weekend, with game times at 8 p.m. Friday and 3 p.m. Saturday.
The men’s volleyball team continued their recent run of success as well, stretching their winning streak to an ACAC-best six games with their weekend wins.
Briercrest sits in third place with a 14-6 record in the South Division but clinched a playoff spot last month.
Friday was as close as a three-game sweep could be, as the Clippers won 27-25, 25-14, 35-33.
Karym Coleman was utterly merciless at the net, throwing down 25 kills on 38 attempts for a .632 kill percentage. Bryton Codd was nearly his equal, going 18-for-29 on kills. Jorge Morales led the defence with nine digs.
Things were interesting in the early going on Saturday as Olds won the first set 25-22, but that would be the last bit of good news for the visitors as the Clippers would roll the rest of the way 25-16, 25-14, 25-12.
Coleman was right back at it with 25 kills on 34 attempts, while Codd finished the game 10-for-16. Codd added 15 digs to his total, while Morales had 11.
It was much the same for the women’s volleyball team, as they won 25-14, 25-11, 25-17 on Friday and followed with a 25-21, 25-23, 25-22 win in the rematch.
Unlike the men’s team, it was offence by committee for the ladies in the opener: Rebecca Garner and Jaalah Ward each had eight kills to go along with seven from Mikayla Benterud. Kirsty Kindrachuk contributed eight digs, Garner added seven service aces
Things were even more spread out on Saturday as Garner led with eight kills while Mia Harder, Julia Beer and Faith Buhler all had six apiece. Beer and Benterud had five aces each.
Both volleyball teams will have the upcoming weekend off before travelling to Red Deer during the Feb. 14 weekend.
The Clippers women’s basketball team ran into a league powerhouse in the Old’s Grizzlies, owners of a 13-1 record and an 11-game winning streak.
Angenay Williams led Briercrest with 27 points in the opener, as the Clippers trailed 21-14 after the first quarter and 56-31 at the half. Brooklyn Martens added 14 points, Hope Jordens contributed 10 rebounds.
The second contest saw Old’s get off to an even better start, building leads of 26-6 and 49-20 through the first two quarters. Williams had 21 points while Jordens scored 12 with 11 rebounds. Tayler Janz picked up 14 points.
The Clippers will look to get back on track with a pair of games at home this weekend, as they take on Ambrose at 6 p.m. on Friday and 1 p.m. Saturday.
