Rustlers women’s v-ball going for national gold

quee matchup of the whole tournament.”

For captain and veteran middle, Kaylie Lueck, it’s all about the experience of the next few days.

“I feel like we’re all pretty chill. We have no pressure going into this tournament, so everyone’s really excited,” she said.

“We’re trained and ready, and we’re feeling good. I’m just soaking it all in, it’s really exciting.” accomplishments as “unheard of” as they go into nationals with a 65-3 set record.

After sweeping the Red Deer Polytechnic Queens in three sets to win the Alberta Col - leges Athletic Conference (ACAC) provincial title on the Queen’s home court last weekend in Red Deer, the Lakeland College Rus - tlers women’s volleyball is currently fighting for a national title at the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAA) championships in Nanaimo, B.C.

“We’re ready,” said head coach Austin Dyer while travelling to Edmonton by bus before flying into Vancouver. “The team’s pretty jacked up to be able to compete for a national championship.

“We’re in a really good spot the way we finished our conference championship and the way we played in the final, I think we’re going in with all kinds of confidence that we’re going to be able to compete

CCAA volleyball action kicked off last night with Lakeland playing its first match against the Rouges de Saint-Boniface out of Manitoba.

“They’re new to the CCAA as of last year, so the hope is that will be a bit of a warm-up game for us to get us going, and if we can manage to win that game, our semi-final would be against the winner of the VIU Mariners and Humber College Hawks, so whether we win or lose on Wednesday, we’ll have VIU or Humber the following day, and that’s going to be a very big game, regardless of what side of the bracket we’re on.

“Those two teams are going to be very good, but things are shaping up for us and VIU to play each other in the semi-final and I think that might be the mar -

Fifth-year setter Jana Laing is also feeling confident going into this week’s action after such a successful season.

“I’m super excited, and we’re all just taking it day by day,” she said.

“Right now, everyone is pretty chill and there’s not a lot of pressure on us … we’re just going to have some fun.”

For Laing, being able to compete against the best teams in Canada is something she’s looking forward to.

“Playing at a higher level will be a change,” she said. “We’ve been playing the same teams all year, so playing some new teams will be exciting and a test for us to see what we can do. It’s exciting to see if we can live up to the potential we’re supposed to be playing to.”

Looking back at the season as a whole, Dyer described his team’s

“It was a crazy year,” he said. “We went 18-1 in the regular season and only lost three sets all season. Heading into conference championships, we won our quarter, our semi and the final, all 3-0, so, we’re heading into nationals 65-3 in sets, which to be honest, is completely unheard of. I don’t think that’s something that will ever be matched, or beat.

“This year has been significantly more dominant than in years past; we had a real good run this year and played really solid all season.”

If the Rustlers won last night’s quarter-final they play in the semis tonight at 8 p.m. B.C. time against the host VIU Mariners.

“If we can get past VIU in that semi-final we look at the other side of the bracket, which would be the Camosun Chargers out of Victoria, B.C. They’re going to be very good,” said Dyer.

“We’re going to have a lot of potential matchups, but obviously we have to win our quarter-final on Wednesday; that’s going to be a very big game.”

All games are being live-streamed free on the CCAA YouTube page.