It was a good weekend for the Briercrest Clippers women’s teams as both the volleyball and basketball squads picked up a pair of wins in Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference action.
The Clippers women’s volleyball team ended up in a barnburner in their opening match of the weekend, taking a 3-2 (23-25, 25-15, 25-23, 23-25, 15-9) win over Northwestern Polytechnic at Margaret P. Reimer gymnasium in Caronport.
Faith Buhler led the Briercrest attack with 19 kills, while Kelsey Simes racked up 12 kills and also had a solid game defensively with 11 digs. Brooklyn Buhler led that category with 23, while Jaryn Janzen and Jess Zacharias had 13 each. Moose Jaw product Summer Okerstrom put down seven kills and picked up a pair of digs.
Things were far easier for the Clippers on Saturday, as they rolled to 3-0 (25-14, 25-11, 25-23) win over the NAIT Ooks.
Buhler was back at it with 14 kills on 17 attempts while also picking up nine digs. Kacey DeJong recorded nine kills and Okerstrom four to go along with four digs.
Briercrest improved to 4-4 with the win and hold down third place in the ACAC South Division.
Briercrest College enjoyed a solid showing from the women’s basketball crew Friday as they rolled to a 68-48 win over Northwestern Polytech.
The Clippers led 18-13 after the first quarter and 39-31 at the break before pulling away in the second half for their 20-point win.
Maddison Beattie led BC with 16 points, while Eve Duerksen scored 11 and Melissa Ellis added 10. Dori Sunderland picked up eight steals, Amber Fichtner recorded nine rebounds.
It was much of the same against the NAIT Ooks on Saturday, but with far more drama -- BC trailed 36-32 at the half and were down 56-51 through three before going on a huge run in the final six minutes, outscoring NAIT 29-5 in the quarter and taking a 76-65 win.
Sunderland put up 19 points, Fichtner scored 18 and Martens 16. Ellis had 10 points off the bench.
Briercrest are now 5-3 and have moved into a tie for second in the South Division, two points back of first-place Lethbridge.
Things didn’t go quite as well for the Clippers men’s volleyball team in their first match of the weekend, as they dropped a 3-2 (19-25, 21-25, 14-25, 24-26, 15-10) decision to Northwestern Polytechnic.
Davis Borden had solid game for BC with 19 kills and 10 digs, while Karym Coleman was his usual self with 17 kills and six service aces on the night. Libero Brady Watchel had a solid game defensively with 23 digs.
The Clippers got right back on track 24 hours later, taking a 3-1 (25-16, 26-24, 20-25, 25-19) win over NAIT. Coleman was one better than the previous game with 18 kills while Watchel picked up 10 digs. Borden had eight kills and three aces.
The men’s volleyball team are now 5-3 and in fourth place in the South Division.
The Clippers’ men’s basketball team opened their weekend with a 78-66 loss to Northwestern Polytechnic in Grande Prairie.
Briercrest took a 23-14 lead out of the first quarter, but trailed by five at the half and were unable to make up the difference after the break.
Central grad Riley Seaborn had another solid game for the Clippers, putting up 31 points, including six three-pointers, while also pulling down six rebounds. Zach Martens scored 12 points coming off the bench, while Danny Mullens had seven points and six rebounds and fellow Moose Jaw product Kaedyn Banilevic recorded a steal.
As tough as the loss to NWP was, things were even closer Saturday against NAIT, as Briercrest took a 77-72 loss.
The Ooks took a 21-11 lead out of the first quarter and led 37-29 at the half, but the Clippers battled back after the break, outsourcing NAIT 24-19 in the third quarter to make it a three-point game 56-53. The Ooks managed to pull away in the final quarter, though, building a 62-53 edge and holding on for the five-point win.
Matthew Bryant and Brolin Simes had 14 points each while Mullens contributed 13, Jackson Mayes came off the bench to score 13 and Oroma Bongomin added 10.
The Clippers are now 1-7 and tied for fifth in the South Division.
The Clippers men’s hockey team picked up right where they left off after their huge overtime win against NAIT last weekend, picking up their second straight victory with a 6-3 win over SAIT in Calgary.
Jake Dale and Zachary Thususka scored for the Clippers in the first period, and Curtis Weibe extended their edge to 3-0 midway through the second. The Trojans got one back before the period was out, but goals from Reagan Poncelet and Alex Pellerin made it a 5-1 game 6:51 into the third.
SAIT scored a pair of goals late in the game to make things interesting, but Zachery Ashworth closed out scoring for Briercrest with just over a minute to play.
Kolter Pawlick -- the reigning ACAC men’s hockey player of the week -- turned aside 28 shots to earn the win. Former Moose Jaw Warriors goaltender Boston Bilous stopped 26 shots in taking the loss.
Briercrest were unable to keep the momentum going Saturday, as SAIT scored twice in the third period to take a 3-1 win. The two teams were tied 1-1 through one and there was no scoring in the second period.
Brandon Kelly scored BC’s lone goal with 2:32 remaining in the first, but SAIT got that one back just over a minute later. The Trojans scored the game-winner 1:39 into the third.
Dominik Tmej had 30 saves for Briercrest, Spencer Welke turned aside 34 for NAIT.
The weekend split sees the Clippers sitting at 4-6-0-0 and in sixth place in the seven-team league.
