Rattlers Men Sweep the Lions 3-0

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MVBjan27

Ambrose headed southeast in hopes to avenge a straight sets loss against the Medicine Hat Rattlers. The Snake Pit is always a tough place to play with fans getting the hometown team up to play. The First set started with a missed serve from the Lions and a side out immediately following. Both teams had offence going early with many balls only crossing the net once. The Rattlers found a small advantage early and opened up a 5 point lead 10-5. This large early lead forced the Lions to take an early timeout. The strong offensive play from Vitor Pereira allowed the Rattlers to maintain their lead into the middle of the set. Up 16-9 the Rattlers again forced their opponent to take another timeout in an effort to stem the bleeding. This however did nothing as the Rattlers continued to score at will up by 10, 23-13. The Rattlers Closed out the first set winning 25-14.

Hoping to continue their dominance of the Lions the Rattlers once again started strong. With 4 points to open up the set, Joao Pedro Freire got into a groove serving hard jump spins to Ambrose. Joao got the ball in his hands at 2 points and served all the way to 9 points going on an impressive run. Ambrose did not simply roll over but fought hard for every ball and point. Bringing subs in and shifting attack strategies, the Lions were trying everything to get back in it. The Firepower of the Rattlers was too much with Vitor Pereira and Joao Friere were overpowering blocks and setter Chad Sieben was serving up perfect balls on a platter. Up by 10, the Rattlers appeared to ease off and let the Lions have a glimmer of home. They snuffed out this glimmer quickly as Brodie Dolter stuffed a few Lions attacks before blasting a quick T-Line kill. The Rattlers Closed out the second set with another T-Line Kill this time courtesy of Justice Lesuk. The Rattlers took the second set 25-18.

The Third set appeared to start much like the first two. This time Joao stepped in to serve on the first point of the set and proceeded to make an ace. The Lions followed this up with a 3 contact kill on the very next serve. The Rattlers just seemed to out-pace the Lions scoring at an almost 2-1 rate doubling their score 8-4 early. With Brodie Dolter serving, The Rattlers continued to roll serving for 5 points bringing the score to 13-4. Down but not out the Lions started to battle back scoring 4 straight as well cutting the lead to 4. A Huge Dig from Brenan Kuffert swung the Momentum back to the Rattlers. Now Back up 7 and in firm control, the Rattlers started to bring in more reserve players. This made no difference as Medicine Hat continued to roll. They closed out the third bringing an early end to the match winning 25-14 and 3 sets to none.