The second seed Briercrest Clippers had the Moose Jaw Fieldhouse rocking on Thursday night as they kicked off the ACAC Men’s Volleyball Championship with a fairly dominant win over the seventh seeded MacEwan Griffins, three sets to one.

“What an atmosphere.  That’s very exciting for the guys.  Truly a home away from home,” said Nigel Mullan, Clippers head coach. “The guys just fed off (the crowd) and the thing I was really impressed with, I felt we tried to use the motivation from the crowd and at the same time stay within our system.”

Close to 500 fans were on hand to provide a home court advantage for the Clippers to kick off the tournament.

Briercrest rolled in the early going thanks to the boast provided by the crowd and took a  25-16 win in the opening set; then picked up another big win in the second set, 25-17; but the Griffins put up a good fight in the third set with a 25-23 win; before the Clippers finished off MacEwan 25-20 for the 3-1 win.

Mullan says his team will need to finish better going forward in the tournament, “I felt like we kind of took our foot off the gas peddle a little bit again and with those teams, it could cost us.  It was a little bit frustrating that we took that step off a little bit.”

The win means the Clippers are just a win away from their third straight trip to the ACAC Volleyball Final.  They take on the Mount Royal Cougars on Friday night at 8:00pm in the semifinals. 

“I would like to see them earn some more points, I felt like we weren’t as stingy with the points as we have been in the past,” added Mullan.  “I think that’s a little bit with the excitement of wanting to make big plays in front of this kind of atmosphere, but I would like to see Mount Royal earn more points instead of us giving away points.”

The other semi will feature the Keyano Huskies taking on the Red Deer Kings at 6:00pm.  The consolation side has games at 1:00pm and 3:00pm.  All at the Moose Jaw Fieldhouse.