Fresh off a gruelling five-set match win over the Concordia University of Edmonton Thunder during Saturday's ACAC Championship play-in game, the Vikings have their sights set on the championship tournament in Red Deer.
Finishing fourth the last time they attended the championship in 2019-20, the Vikings will be hoping to improve on their best-place finish by securing a medal this week. A championship title would mark their first in team history after finishing just outside of medals in two consecutive seasons (2018-19 and 2019-20) in their best finishes.
The team will take on the Ambrose University Lions in their first match-up of the week on Thursday, February 23rd at 3pm at the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre at Red Deer Polytechnic.
The Lions (13-6) finished the regular season first in the south division and received a bye directly to the championship, while the Vikings (13-6) had to battle it out against the Thunder (9-10) to stake their claim to a seat after finishing fourth in the north following the conclusion of the regular season.
The two teams met only once during the season as they both capped off their regular season on February 11, 2023, with the Vikings coming out victorious, 3-1 (25-17, 25-13, 19-25, 25-17). Outside Hitter Shae Boyes had herself a night with 22 kills, five aces, 14 digs and one block.
The winner of the match on Thursday afternoon will go on to face either the Lethbridge College Kodiaks (10-9) or The Kings University Eagles (16-3) in the second round. The Vikings faced the Kodiaks only once, but came out with a 3-0 win, while they lost both games to the Eagles back in October.
