The Briercrest College Clippers are once again Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference women’s volleyball medalists.
The Clippers capped their 2023-24 campaign in style on Saturday night, rolling to a 25-22, 25-16, 25-18 win over the Red Deer Queens in the bronze medal game for their first ACAC medal since claiming gold in 2019-20.
It was a heartening finish for the Caronport-based crew after enduring a tough 19-25, 23-25, 25-18, 25-14, 15-4 loss to Ambrose in the semifinal on Friday.
Faith Buhler had 11 kills and 12 digs to lead the Clippers in the bronze game, while Julia Beer also had 11 kills to go along with nine from Rachel Stead. Abigail Ulrich had a busy game at setter with 40 assists. Peacock grad Summer Okerstrom had five kills, two digs and a block.
Lakeland College defeated Ambrose in three straight to win gold and advance to the CCAA championships in March.
The Briecrest Clippers women's basketball team pulled off a huge upset in their quarter-final match and are now off to the Final Four.
Briercrest battled to a 70-65 win over the Lethbridge Kodiaks on Saturday night after finishing 14-8 in the regular season compared to the Kodiaks' first-place 18-4 mark.
The Clippers took a 23-21 lead out of the first quarter but trailed 45-39 at the half. An 18-5 third quarter gave Briercrest a 57-54 lead and they'd hang on through a back-and-forth fourth quarter for the win.
Asia Wells led the Clippers with 14 points, while Amber Fichtner scored 12 and Madison Beattie added 11.
Briercrest now advances to the Final Four beginning Friday in Lethbridge.
The Clippers men’s volleyball team finished sixth after dropping a 25-19, 20-25, 25-18, 25-15 decision to Old’s College in the fifth-place game in Calgary.
ACAC South Division player of the year Karym Coleman had 19 kills to lead the offence. Jackson Anderson had 12 kills and six digs, Judah Matthies led the defence with six digs.
Red Deer claimed the bronze medal with a 3-2 win over Lakeland, and NAIT won the ACAC championship by taking a 3-0 sweep of Keyano College.
Briercrest wrapped up their men’s hockey regular season with 6-1 loss to the Red Deer Kings, but it mattered little in the bigger scheme of things as the Clippers had already locked up first place in the ACAC standings.
Red Deer scored four in the first period and added another in the second to lead 5-1 before Campbell Enns got the Clippers on the board 1:17 into the third.
Jacob Wozney had a hat trick for Red Deer, Hayden Clayon scored twice and Chance Longjohn had their other marker.
Dominik Tmej had 27 saves for Briecrest, while Arik Weersink stopped 21 for Red Deer.
The Clippers cap their campaign with a 17-7-2-1 record and will have the next weekend off before opening the ACAC semifinal at home on Friday, Mar. 8.
