volleyball4

It's time for the annual showcase of college volleyball in our region.

The Battle of the Southwest goes tonight as the Great Plains College SunDodgs take on Millar College of the Bible.

Kevin Peters Interview"Great Plains has done a great job to build their volleyball program to where it is right now," said Millar Athletic Director and men's coach Kevin Peters. "Every time out you never know what you're going to get or who is going to win. It's always a lot of fun."

The women's teams hit the O.M. Irwin School court at 6:30pm, while the men are scheduled for an 8pm tip-off. The men's game is a re-match of a dramatic five-set provincial final that Great Plains College won.

"If that doesn't drive the guys to try and dig a little deeper somehow and pull off a win," Peters said. "After losing that provincial final you want to make another statement that we deserve that too."

It's been a terrific battle between the two clubs in Prairie Athletic Conference play all season.

"We took both league games and they took us at provincials," Peters said. "All the games have been tight. I don't expect anything less from this game tonight. It's just whoever is going to be on their 'A' game I guess."

"They've come to be a really good defence team. They shut our offence down at the key point of provincials. I expect them to be looking to keep that ball in the air... I think it's going to be down to their defence versus our ability to wing the ball and find the holes."

The women's match has favoured the SunDogs so far this season.

Morgan Montgomery Interview"We're feeling good," said Great Plains women's coach Morgan Montgomery. "The girls are ready to good. We've been victorious against Millar when we've played them this season. We're hoping to keep that going and take the victory when it counts."

In the women's game it could be a battle of two teams who can really bring the offence.

"Just keep playing strong offensively," Montgomery said. "We seem to notice all season when we're hitting well and the girls are playing strong at the net we seem to come out with a win or else have really close games."

"Millar is a strong hitting team. If our girls are out there blocking and making sure we're taking ownership of the net, especially on our own court, then we'll do alright."

The Battle of the Southwest is technically just an exhibition scheduled between provincials and westerns. Both schools and the fans take it very seriously, but Montgomery noted it is something they have to emphasize to the players.

"It's tough to really get the girls to truly understand the meaning behind the battle," she said. "This year we have one returning player and eight rookies on the team, but we have a couple of girls who have had older brothers who have played on the team. They know what 'Battle' is all about and that has really helped."

Millar always sends a huge and loud crowd of their fans to Swift Current for the event and the TV cameras will be there. That lends itself to some extra excitement for the players.

"It's a lot of fun to play in," Montgomery said.  "The girls love playing in front of a crowd so I think they're going to feed off that."