{"id":42134,"date":"2018-01-29T09:44:40","date_gmt":"2018-01-29T16:44:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/?p=42134"},"modified":"2018-04-18T11:45:35","modified_gmt":"2018-04-18T17:45:35","slug":"chemistry-catapulting-trojans-to-the-top","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2018\/01\/29\/chemistry-catapulting-trojans-to-the-top\/","title":{"rendered":"Chemistry catapulted men’s volleyball Trojans to the top"},"content":{"rendered":"

S<\/span>ince returning from the semester break, the SAIT men\u2019s volleyball team picked up where they left off in 2017 by adding to their win-streak and securing first place in their division of the ACAC<\/a>.<\/p>\n

T<\/span>he month of January was good to the Trojans<\/a>, as they won all six of their matches to reach an impressive 11-game winning streak.<\/p>\n

The boys in red put together a nice run and by the end of January, enjoyed a six-point cushion in the South Division of the ACAC.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery game we\u2019re trying to improve on one or two things and the following games [are about] getting even better at those things,\u201d explained Trent Mounter<\/a>, an outside hitter for the Trojans.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are taking it one week at a time and one game at a time.”<\/p>\n

The wins following the break were a confidence boost for the team.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cSome of those games were pretty hard. We faced a couple scenarios we haven\u2019t been in yet, and we did a good job in adapting to those adversities,\u201d Mounter said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a really talented team this year,\u201d said fourth-year,\u00a0Nathan Goss<\/a>, a setter for the Trojans.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom being around awhile, I\u2019ve kind of seen the team have its roller-coaster.”<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year, if a guy is not on, we have other guys. If someone isn\u2019t having it that day, we have someone who can pick him up,\u201d Goss added.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I think our team culture is really good, and our ability to see other guys and go to other guys has been really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the win-streak, the Trojans played its entire season-series against the defending national champions, the Red Deer College Kings.<\/p>\n

The proverbial giants of the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA)<\/a> have won the national title three out of the last four years, and have always been a tough divisional rival for the Trojans.<\/p>\n

However, the Trojans won all four of those matches to sweep the champs this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIts huge for us. I\u2019ve been around for a while so I\u2019ve seen the Red Deer program and how strong they tend to be,\u201d said Goss.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s really big with us coming in this year and being the team to reckon with,\u201d Goss added.<\/p>\n

Mounter said it was important for the Trojans to create some \u201cbreathing room\u201d in the ACAC\u2019s South Division.<\/p>\n

Before the second half of the season, the division included a four-way tie for second place.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were two sets down in that second game against Red Deer, and we haven\u2019t been in that situation yet, so that experience alone was good from that game,\u201d Mounter added.<\/p>\n

The win-streak, and especially the wins over Red Deer College, helped to solidify top position for the Trojans.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt kind of sets up the rest of the semester, and hopefully we can finish top-seed heading to provincials,\u201d said Mounter.<\/p>\n

The powerful offense of the Trojans has loads of confidence and chemistry this season.<\/p>\n

Mounter has been leading the ACAC in total kills and kills-per-set<\/a> for the majority of the season.<\/p>\n

Another Trojans outside hitter, Spencer Coulter, has been right behind his teammate in both stats.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really easy to set them up and then they take care of it,\u201d said Goss.<\/p>\n

The Trojans setter has also been efficiently productive this season and leads the ACAC in assists-per-set<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI give all the kudos to those guys because they really make me look good and for the confidence for our team, it\u2019s huge,” he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not one guy I can give the ball to that won\u2019t put the ball away like we need to. So those guys, they\u2019re just huge for us,\u201d Goss explained.<\/p>\n

According to Mounter, when opponents think they have their defense dialled in on the Trojans\u2019 offensive threats, the Trojans can change it up and go a different direction.<\/p>\n

We faced a couple scenarios that we haven\u2019t been in yet, and we did a good job in adapting to those adversities. -Trent Mounter<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cIt shows how diverse we are,\u201d said Mounter.<\/p>\n

Mounter attributes a lot of their success and unpredictability to Goss\u2019 vision and intuitiveness on the court.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got all guns firing. Even through the middle we\u2019re really strong, and it\u2019s really hard for teams to defend us when we\u2019re running on all cylinders,\u201d said Mounter.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s building off that and staying productive, that\u2019s what we have to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A look into how the Trojans men’s volleyball team is doing since the semester break, and the reasons why they are on an 11-game win-streak. [ READ MORE ]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":401,"featured_media":42153,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_ef_editorial_meta_text_assignment-slug":"S1 Men's volleyball 11-game win-streak","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,17],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-42134","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-image","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sait-trojans-volleyball","8":"category-sports","9":"post_format-post-format-image"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/401"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42134"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44498,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42134\/revisions\/44498"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}