The Lakeland Rustlers cannot be denied.
The best women’s collegiate volleyball team in Canada overcame extenuating circumstances to win a fourth straight Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) championship Sunday in Camrose.
Read more: Rustlers school opponents en route to playoffs
The Rustlers not only defeated the host Augustana Vikings in the final at a packed campus gym, but the Lloydminster school completed a mission that seemed improbable for much of this season.
When the Rustlers finally began their regular-season schedule in late November, they were already 0-8 in the standings because of disciplinary sanctions that the ACAC had issued against them.
Not to be denied, the three-time reigning Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association champions went right back to work, won all 11 of their remaining matches and qualified for the playoffs as the fourth seed from the North Division.
No team wanted to face Lakeland on championship weekend in Camrose, not even top-ranked Augustana, which went on to lose to the Rustlers 3-0 (25-22, 25-16 and 25-21) in the gold-medal showdown.
“Not a lot of teams, I don’t think, would have been able to overcome all the things that we needed to, to be able to achieve the accomplishment that we did,” said the Rustlers’ longtime coach, Austin Dyer.
“Our first league game was the end of November, and playoffs for us started then. We were basically in a win-or-go-home scenario right from our first opportunity to compete.
“But it’s also a veteran group that is battle-tested, so they understood the circumstances. They know how to put the work in, how to prepare, how to show up for competition. Also, there’s no quit. So, anytime things weren’t going our way, or we weren’t playing great, they always bounced back and made sure we’re going to give ourselves an opportunity to be successful.”
Another such opportunity awaits Lakeland next week at nationals in Niverville, Man., with all teams residing in Winnipeg during the event. Lakeland begins play Wednesday against the host team, the Providence University College Pilots.
The other schools in the Rustlers’ bracket are Humber Polytechnic of Toronto and the Atlantic champion Mount Allison Mounties of Sackville, N.B.
Lakeland is going into that national championship tournament with confidence and history on its side.
“We’ve been the best team in the country, by a landslide, for the last four years now,” said Dyer, in his 18th year guiding the Rustlers program.
“There’s no other team that has achieved what we have, because yeah, we’re the three-time defending national champions. In post-secondary, with the turnover in rosters and what not, there isn’t anybody out there that has accomplished what we have.
“So, anybody that has to face that kind of experience and veteran prowess, it’s a great challenge for any team that has to come up against us, for sure. There definitely could be easier routes to try to get to the end than having to face us at the beginning.”
The Rustlers weathered a worthy challenge at the beginning of the ACAC championship tournament, needing a fifth set to finish off the Red Deer Queens, the top team in the South Division.
“Red Deer is coached very well,” Dyer said. “We won the first two sets quite easily and by a decent margin, and then just started to sputter a little bit. Yes, we were supposed to win and we pretty well had the game. All of a sudden, things started to go sideways. But, again, the veteran compete level that I have on my team, we battled in that fourth set and came up short. We were just more steady than them in the fifth set and we were able to move on.”
And no player was steadier than Avery Bates, one of three graduating Rustlers and the ACAC championship MVP.
“Avery was hands-down the most dominant player in the tournament,” Dyer reported. “That wasn’t even a question. She did everything she needed to do to help us win that first match against Red Deer, she was great against NAIT (in that 3-0 semifinal victory), and then she was all-world in the final against Augustana, to the point that we almost didn’t need to give anybody else the ball. She took over the match in the final and just took us straight to victory.
“The final performance by her was one of the best I’ve seen in my coaching career.”
Last weekend, relief and gratitude greeted the Rustlers, as did a strong contingent of supporters from Lloydminster and beyond.
“It’s been a pretty tough season,” Dyer said. “I’m just really happy for my athletes. To be able to perform the way that they did at the end here, it was a really good weekend for us.”
It typified the Rustlers’ magical run this winter. While a fourth ACAC title might not have seemed reasonably achievable just months or even weeks ago, the Lakeland women showed they don’t quit.
“Just the perseverance and resiliency of the group,” Dyer said. “A lot of teams would have folded and probably figured that they didn’t even have a chance, with the hurdle that we had to overcome to even qualify for playoffs, let alone get there and be able to perform at a level to be able to win.”
RUSTLERS HOST HOOPS PLAYOFFS
Another big event on Lakeland’s calendar is on tap this weekend as the Rustlers’ men’s basketball team hosts the eight-team ACAC championship tournament Thursday through Saturday.
In its first game, Lakeland faces the Ambrose University Lions at 8 p.m. Thursday.
“The guys are definitely excited,” said Jordan Horobetz-Simpson, one of the Rustlers’ top players. “I know it’s something a lot of us wished for in the past, and it finally came to be.
“We’ll need as much support as possible. We want the whole city to pack the gym. The more energy, the better. We thrive off it.”
The Rustlers went 17-3 in the regular season to become the top seed from the North Division.
“We’ve struggled with consistently playing at that championship level,” Horobetz-Simpson said. “However, the past couple of weeks of practice have really inspired me personally. Now, it’s just time to execute.
“It will take everything we’ve got every game to win. Teams aren’t just going to come out and roll over. We’re going to get every team’s best game. Everybody is hunting for that ’chip.”
Also in the mix are defending-champion Briercrest College, Concordia University of Edmonton, Keyano College, Lethbridge Polytechnic, NAIT and SAIT.
On Saturday, the gold-medal game is set for 6 p.m., after the bronze-medal match at 3 p.m.
Read more: Rustlers try to extend remarkable run
