Rustlers women’s vball wrap near-perfect season

TAYLOR WEAVER EDITOR

The Lakeland College Rustlers women’s volleyball team just completed a near-perfect 18-1 season and heads into next weekend’s provincials in Red Deer as the favourite.

Not only did the Rustlers finish the season with an 18-1 overall record, but they also finished with a set record of 56-3, something head coach Austin Dyer is very proud of.

“It’s been incredible. In sets, we’re 53-3, so we’ve beaten every team 3-0 other than the one we lost 3-2,” said Dyer after the team swept the Medicine Hat College Rattlers 3-0 (25-9, 25-9, 25-12) on Friday at the Lakeland gym.

The Rustlers played their final regular-season game on Saturday night when they hosted Briercrest, beating the Clippers 3-0 (25-7, 25-16, 25-16).

“It’s been a ton of fun watching this group build and grow in the number of years in time they’ve put in. Now we get to see the final product, and it’s been a lot of fun.”

As a veteran team, Dyer attributes a great deal of this season’s success to the fact his players never gave up or lost sight of the end goal. The pandemic also forced many schools to cease training, something Dyer tried to avoid at all costs. tant factor, captain Kaylie Lueck, who will play a seventh season for the green and gold next year, is one player Dyer can always count on. Playing a key role on the team for as long as she has, Lueck also had nothing but positives to say about the season.

“Our roster in terms of year-of-eligibility is quite low, but COVID was a free year, and a number of these girls red-shirted as well,” he said.

“This is a group that’s been together for some time, and it’s a group that’s been together through COVID, and lucky for us, we were able to train the whole time, for the most part. We were able to train the same way and I made sure our program ran as close to normal as possible, and we really saw the benefits of that as it decimated other programs.

“The other factor was, this group was willing to stick it out and not give up. Now, two years later, we’re out of COVID, we lost in the ACAC final last year, and now we’re the favourite going in this year. It’s been fun to watch.”

With veteran presence being an impor -

“It’s definitely shown that we are a veteran team. Our team has put in the work, and that’s showing on the court,” said Lueck. “We have a good group of girls in and out of the gym, but we’re also a family and we’re putting it all out on the court and doing our best.

“We put our best out on the floor every night, and we play to win, but we also play for each other.”

The ACAC women’s volleyball championships take place at Red Deer Polytechnic from Feb. 23-25, and after losing in last year’s final, it’s payback time for the Rustlers.

“We’re so excited for provincials,” said Lueck. “We’re looking forward to going back to Red Deer, but it’s a little bittersweet because we lost in the finals last year, it’s revenge time, and I think that’s been the mindset all season.”

“This weekend is a bye for us and in two weeks’ time it’s conference championships and the top two teams go to nationals,” added Dyer.

“We’re in good position, and when we get to the final of the ACAC championship, that’ll book our ticket to nationals and hopefully we can work to try and win them both.

“First, we’re going to have to compete and take care of conference championships before we get that chance to go to nationals.”