Another week of Ooks action is in the books. It was an exciting one seeing some teams play their first home games since the break. Let’s take a look at what the Ooks did this past weekend.
Basketball
After getting off to a shaky start coming back from the winter break, the men’s basketball team got back to winning on Friday night. They put on a show for the crowd for their first home game, beating the University of Alberta Augustana Vikings 101-83. The next game on Saturday was tough, and they lost 85-78 in a close match. After the win on Friday night, coach Jordan Baker felt like winning impacted the team’s strategy.
“We had a change in mentality about trying to focus a little bit more on the defensive side of things. We turned some stops into some easy baskets for ourselves,” he told the Nugget.
The women’s team also played their first home game back after the break on Friday night. The team led for most of the game, and almost had a late collapse, but squeaked out a 64-59 victory. Coach Kiera Lyons wants her team to stay calm in all moments. “Most of the time, I just tell them to calm down. We still had the lead, we needed to play smooth. One of my favourite things to say is ‘slow is smooth and smooth is fast.’”
Unfortunately, the next night the team was on the road and the results were different. They ended up losing 69-55 in their second game against the Vikings.
After the weekend of action, both teams’ records remain the same as they were going into the weekend, with the women at 7-7, and the men’s team at 5-9. Interestingly, both teams won at home and lost on the road. Ooks basketball action for the month is finished and they will be back at the start of February against Kings University.
Hockey
After an exciting midweek game against Korea University, the Ooks men’s hockey team was right back in action Friday night against Briercrest College. The third period saw the Ooks down 4-2, but they found a goal midway through the period. By the end of the game, Briercrest would add a fifth,winning the game 5-3. The following night the Ooks would respond by winning 2-0 with stifling defence to get the shut out.
After a historic weekend where Katylin Slator became the all-time ACAC wins leader for goalies, the Ooks women were back in action, playing Medicine Hat College. On Friday night, the Ooks lit the ice on fire; they scored a whopping eight goals, with five coming in the 3rd period. The game finished with NAIT winning 8-2. The next night in Medicine Hat would prove to be a different challenge. It was a close game, but the Ooks won 2-1, With assidy Shandro grabbing the winning goal in the 2nd period.
With the Ooks women’s team winning four in a row they look to extend their winning streak to five when they’re back at home Friday night against Old College. The men’s team looked to build on that defensive performance from Saturday night when they play the first game of a Home and Home Friday night against Concordia University.
Volleyball
After a weekend of no Ooks volleyball action, The Ooks men’s team was back in action Friday night against the University of Alberta Augustana. The Ooks got off to a quick start, winning the first two sets 25-12 and 25-19, before dropping the third set 25-15. They finished strong, ending the fourth set 25-19. This would improve their record to 8-3 before Saturday’s rematch. Saturday night would prove to be a dominant one, with the Ooks winning in 3 straight sets 25-19, 25-18, and 25-14.
The women’s team had a disappointing weekend. Their Friday night away game against University of Alberta Augustana was very close. The first two sets both went into extra points, with the Ooks and Vikings splitting the sets. But the Ooks would drop off in the third set, only mustering 8 points and losing the set 25-8. In the fourth set, the Ooks also got extra points, but the Ooks did not come out on top. Saturday night was more of the same where the NAIT Ooks would lose 3 sets to 1 for the second night in a row.
Next up, the men look to continue their winning ways and extend their streak to five. They play a home and home with Lakeland College, starting next Friday night at the NAIT gym at 8:00 p.m. The women look to get back on track after a tough weekend. They’ll also play Lakeland College in a home and home starting Friday night at the NAIT gym at 6:00 p.m.
