Lineup shift helps Kodiaks to victory
A lineup shift doubled as somewhat of an eyeopener for the Lethbridge College women’s volleyball team.
It’s also given them a 2-0 weekend in their first home games of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference second semester following 3-0 and 3-1 wins over the Olds Broncos Friday and Saturday at the Val Matteotti Gymnasium.
Saturday’s win not only kicked off a 4-0 day for the Kodiaks court teams as the men’s volleyball teams and women’s and men’s basketball teams also recorded wins, it doubles the women’s volleyball win total, improving them to 4-12 this season. The Broncos are 2-14 with the losses. On Friday, a bit of roster rotation ultimately got the Kodiaks back into the win column after 10 straight losses as first-year Kodiak Johanna Dixon got the start at setter, moving veteran Jamie Brown to left side.
It spilled over into Saturday’s game as the Kodiaks won in four sets.
Dixon added another 25 assists and also had one kill and 11 digs, while Brown led the Kodiaks with 12 kills and 18 digs.
“Jo had her first ACAC start and her first full game that first weekend in Red Deer,” said Kodiaks head coach Anna Schwark. “So this weekend was her first full weekend of league play and she did a fantastic job. She’s worked really hard to earn that court time. In order to get her on we had to find a new place for Jamie Brown and she has really excelled as a left side. She’s so athletic and dynamic that we really trust putting her anywhere. The fact she came out and was so consistent kind of makes us wonder why we didn't try that out sooner. But she did a fantastic job just being flexible and continuing to be a leader on the team.”
The ACAC provincials take place Feb. 27-29.
“When we’re goalsetting you have instantgratification goals and long-term goals and obviously our long-term goal is to be there at the end of provincials,” said Gibos. “So we know we need to peak at that time of year and we’re really trying to work on the little details that will allow us to do that. We only have four weeks of regular season left to kind of figure it out and I think we have a little bit to do yet.”
The present met the future Saturday with the standout play of Kodiaks first-years Nolan Moes and Nash Shipton.
Moes had eight kills and two digs in Saturday’s win. Shipton added 11 assists.
“He’s doing really well,” said Gibos of Moes. “Nolan was a highlytouted first-year coming to us from Barrhead and he was someone we really identify into our program. We’re trying to work him into the ACAC, so we’ve been trying different lineups to give him a feel for things. But he’s a big, strong kid who has a bright future here. If you watch him, you see how physical he is in this gym and we’re going to look for him to be that guy to be one of our mainstays. So it’s exciting for him to come in here and perform against a good team so well especially after we had to pull him (Friday) night. So he rebounded really well and that just shows how much resiliency he has. We’re doing the same thing with Nash, who started (Saturday) as well. He’s a first-year we really believe in and we know he has a bright future in a Kodiak uniform. So we’re going to support those two guys all the way through.”
Carter Hansen led the Kodiaks with 19 kills Saturday and Michael Hummel hammered 10.
Tony Albizzati had 14 kills and Zach Wikenheiser had 31 assists.
The Kodiaks return to action Jan. 30 when the Ambrose Lions come to town.