CIS final: No. 1 Bears too much for No. 2 Laval, golden again
The No. 1-seeded and tournament host Alberta Golden Bears repeated as CIS men's volleyball champions with a dominating 25-20, 25-22, 25-17 gold-medal win over the No. 2 Laval Rouge et Or, Sunday night, at the University of Alberta's main gym.
Courtesy of U of Alberta sports information
EDMONTON (CIS) - The No. 1-seeded and tournament host Alberta
Golden Bears repeated as CIS men's volleyball champions with a
dominating 25-20, 25-22, 25-17 gold-medal win over the No. 2 Laval
Rouge et Or, Sunday night, at the University of Alberta's main
gym.
Championship website:
www.cisport.ca/e/championships/m_volleyball/2009
The Golden Bears, who have now won six Tantramar trophies
(2008-09, '07-08, '04-05, '01-02, '96-97, '80-81) since the
inaugural CIS championship in 1967, became the first team to repeat
as national champions since the 2000-01 Manitoba Bisons and the
first team crowned on home court since the 2001-02 Bears.
Alberta was making an astounding eighth straight appearance in the
CIS title match, winning half of them.
"I feel a little bit of relief for our guys, they worked so hard
all year. But I also feel a lot of happiness," said Alberta head
coach Terry Danyluk.
"We have a lot of really good players on this team. But the word
is team. It was just a huge team effort," added Danyluk, named CIS
coach of the year for a record-tying fifth time this season.
Three-time national champion Laval (1993-94, '91-92, '89-90) was
the first squad from outside the Canada West conference to play for
CIS gold since the 2000-01 Rouge et Or, who lost 3-1 to Manitoba in
the final that year.
"Alberta was simply the better team tonight. They're a great
team," said Laval coach Pascal Clément. They served really
hard, they had us on our heels all night. We were never able to get
things going. "
"We have to think about not only what we did tonight, but what we
did over the last eight years to get back to the national final. We
have nothing to be ashamed of," Clément added.
Three days after being named CIS player of the year, fifth-year
right side Joel Schmuland (Calgary) capped off a dream weekend
earning tournament-MVP honours and winning his third CIS gold medal
- the first at home - in his final outing as a Bear.
"It's gonna hit me in a couple of days, maybe a couple of weeks,
couple of months," said the 6-foot-7 senior. "Playing at home was
incredible, but winning at home is even better."
Schmuland and fellow fifth-year senior Tim Gourlay (Grande
Prairie, Alta.) both finished the match with 10 kills, Gourlay
committing only one attacking error for an impressive .429 hitting
efficiency.
"This is just amazing, I can't find the right words to describe
what I'm feeling right now," said Gourlay, who was named game MVP
for Alberta. "We have a special group of guys. Everyone did their
job tonight and that's why we won."
Fourth-year Alberta setter Mike DeRocco (Winnipeg) had 30 set
assists and was named to the tournament all-star team alongside
Schmuland, Laval teammates Frédéric Desbiens and Olivier
Faucher, Brandon's Joel Small and Andrew Korol, and Nathan
Groenveld of McMaster.
Desbiens, a sophomore hitter from La Malbaie, Que., led all
players on the court in the final with 15 kills and 16 points.
Faucher (Plessisville, Que.), a four-time all-Canadian wearing the
Rouge et Or colours for the last time, had 38 assists, while CIS
libero of the year Nicolas Quirion (Arthabaska, Que.) had a
match-high 13 defensive digs.
First-team all-Canadian left side Thiery Lavigne (Rockland, Ont.)
struggled in his final university outing, tallying seven kills and
committing five attacking errors.
While Laval finished with a 39-38 edge in kills, the Rouge et Or
committed eight more attacking errors and seven more service
mistakes than their rivals. Alberta dominated at the net with 19
assisted and two solo blocks, compared to seven and four for
Laval.
Despite the relatively close final score, the result of the duel
between the top two teams in the nation never seemed in doubt,
Alberta leading every set almost from start to finish.
The rivals came into Sunday's final as the only two undefeated
sides in the nation, having both kept perfect 18-0 records in the
regular season and 2-0 marks in the conference playoffs. Alberta
topped all 13 national coaches polls in 2008-09, while Laval was
ranked third seven times and second in the last six polls.
But when it counted the most, the Bears were just too much for the
Quebec champions.
Alberta dominated the first two sets in identical fashion.
In the initial frame, the locals took an 8-5 lead into the first
technical timeout and a 16-11 advantage into the second mandatory
break, before closing things out at 25-20.
In the second stanza, the Bears went into the breaks ahead 8-4 and
16-11, before pushing their lead to 24-20. Laval managed to save a
pair of set points to make it a two-point affair but Schmuland
shattered any hopes of a comeback with a thunderous game-ending
kill.
The Rouge et Or offered a better opposition in the first part of
the third period.
The visitors held an early 6-5 edge but Alberta responded with six
straight points to take an 11-6 lead, which they quickly improved
to 14-10.
Laval refused to quit scoring four consecutive points and tying
the affair at 14 all on a Desbiens block of Schmuland.
That's when the Bears decided they had enough. The champions put
the match away with six straight points of their own, ending the
duel on an 11-3 run.
Thompson Rivers will host the 2010 CIS men's volleyball
championship in Kamloops, B.C.
STATS LEADERS
Alberta
Kills: Joel Schmuland (10), Tim Gourlay (10)
Blocks: Joel Schmuland (6 assist), Justin Merta (4 assist, 1
solo)
Digs: Tyler Myroniuk (8), Ben Saxton (6)
Assists: Mike DeRocco (30)
Player of the match: Tim Gourlay
Laval
Kills: Frédéric Desbiens (15), Karl De Granpré (7),
Thierry Lavigne (7)
Blocks: Thierry Lavigne (2 assist, 1 solo), Olivier Faucher (2
assist, 1 solo), Simon Fecteau-Boutin (2 assist, 1 solo)
Digs: Nicolas Quirion (13)
Assists: Olivier Faucher (38)
Player of the match: Frédéric Desbiens
TOURNAMENT
ALL-STARS
Tournament MVP: Joel Schmuland, Alberta
R.W. Pugh Fair Play Award: Brandon Bobcats
(team)
Tournament
all-stars:
- Nathan Groenveld, McMaster
- Joel Small, Brandon
- Andrew Korol, Brandon
- Olivier Faucher, Laval
- Frédéric Desbiens, Laval
- Joel Schmuland, Alberta
- Mike DeRocco, Alberta