CIS men's volleyball Saturday roundup: Brandon rallies to stun No. 2 Spartans

Source: Waterloo Sports Info

The Waterloo men's volleyball team was slow out of the gate but managed to get back on track and pick up their first victory of 2013 with a 3-1 (31-33, 25-13, 28-26, 25-20) win over the RMC Paladins on Saturday afternoon in Kingston.

The win gives the Warriors a 9-1 record, two points back of the first place McMaster Marauders (10-0) while RMC dropped to 0-10 on the season.

Waterloo got off to a sluggish start making several errors, allowing the Paladins to take the first set 33-31 but Waterloo responded as they have all year to capture the second set with ease, 25-13.  The third and pivotal set was a back and forth affair that would end in favour of the Warriors 28-26.  The Paladins could not recover in the fourth and Waterloo would take the set 25-20 and match 3-1.

Rookie outside hitter Sergey Grabovsky (Aurora) was an offensive threat for Waterloo collecting 18 points in the win.  Grabovsky had 14 kills while adding six digs and four blocks.  Third year, Jordan Dyck (St. Catharines) was a blocking machine in the middle with a game high six blocks.  Dyck also added 13 kills for the black and gold.

Setting up the Warriors was Hussein Abdo (Ottawa/Warriors) who tallied 39 assists and an astounding five service aces.

For the Paladins the duo of Thomas McMullen (Ottawa) and Tyler Leknois (Kingston) combined for 28 kills while setter Eric Hawn (London) had 37 assists in a losing effort.

Waterloo will now prepare for a match with the Queen's Gales (6-3) on Sunday afternoon in Kingston at 2pm.

Source: Queen's Sports Info

KINGSTON, Ont. – The Queen's Gaels men's volleyball team (7-3) was in action Saturday afternoon against the Guelph Gryphons (2-8), in their first game of 2013. The Gaels were able to cruise past the Guelph Gryphons in straight sets (26-24, 25-10, 25-19). Queen's currently sits in fourth place in the OUA.
 
The match opened on a rather lackluster note, with three errors. Queen's saw their first offensive productivity from Philippe Goyer(Ottawa) who stifled a Gryphon's attack with a block up the middle. Queen's and Guelph proceeded to exchange points until the Gaels were able to pull ahead in the final points of the set with middle Tyler Scheerhoorn (Belleville, Ont.) making his presence felt upfront with two timely blocks and a tip over the Gryphon defenders. Scheerhoorn closed out the first frame with a service ace.
 
Although Guelph was able to keep the first set close, much in part because of Queen's eight errors, they could not find an answer for the Gaels strong offensive production in the second set. Guelph opened the set with a service error, which gave Queen's some momentum out of the gate. The Gaels were all over the court in the second, and Jackson Dakin (Courtenay, B.C.) illustrated this in one particular rally where he recorded three different digs—eventually setting up offside-hitter Michael Tomlinson (Stratford, Ont.) for a commanding kill, which capped a 11-4 Gaels run. Tomlinson recorded two more kills in the second set to close-out a lop-sided set victory, 25-10. The Gaels stand-out second-year hitter was also named the Gaels player of the game, finishing with a game-high 15 kills, eight digs and three blocks.
 
In the third set it was the Gryphons getting on the board first with a Gaels service error. Guelph continued to make a push, with right-side hitter Winston Rosser (Whitby, Ont.)
and left-side hitter Timothy Warnholtz (Guelph, Ont.) combining for five of the Gryphons 19 points in the third. For the Gaels it was second-year offside-hitter Aaron Nusbaum (Aurora, Ont.)  who was noteworthy in the set, accounting for three of the tricolour's points after the technical timeout. Tomlinson was also pivotal upfront recording two blocks late to close things out for the Gaels, who won the set 25-19—cruising to their first straight set victory of 2013.
 
The Gaels look to build on their performance as they host the No. 10 Waterloo Warriors on Sunday. Game time is set for 2pm in the ARC Main Gym.

Source: Trinity Western Sports Info

LANGLEY, British Columbia – Down 2-0 and facing match-point in the third set, the Brandon Bobcats rallied to win three straight sets as it knocked off the No. 2 Trinity Western men’s volleyball team 3-2 (16-25, 24-26, 29-27, 25-20, 15-13) Saturday at Langley Events Centre.

With TWU (11-3) up 2-0, the Bobcats (10-4) staved off match-point at 26-25 in the third set and went on to win 29-27, which forced the fourth set. Brandon then continued to roll in the fourth, winning by five, and in the fifth, while TWU picked up its play, the Bobcats pulled it out late, winning 15-13. With TWU up 13-12 in the fifth set, Brandon scored three straight points and, with a block from Dan Boutwell (Kenora, Ont), took the set and the match.

The loss is the Spartans first setback at the LEC, including exhibition games and the playoffs, since Jan. 22, 2011, when they fell to the Calgary Dinos. Over that span, TWU had won 26 straight matches at the LEC.

The Bobcats were led by Sam Tuivai (Auckland, New Zealand), who had 21 kills and 10 digs, while Roy Ching (Nelson, New Zealand) added 17 kills and 14 digs and Boutwell had 14 kills and five blocks. Setter Garrett Popplestone (Brandon, Man.) had a match-high 57 assists along with 15 digs and four blocks. Libero Scott Neufeld had a match-high 25 digs.

For the Spartans, it was Steven Marshall (Abbotsford, B.C.) leading the way with 18 kills and 10 digs while Brad Kufske (Abbotsford) had 13 kills and 10 digs. Derek Thiessen (Coquitlam, B.C.) had a career-high 11 kills, with his previous career-high being a nine kill effort he produced earlier this year against Thompson Rivers Nov. 9. Lucas Van Berkel (Edmonton) had a match-high 11 blocks to go with nine kills. Libero John Wiebe (Abbotsford) led the team with 15 digs.

“That’s an excruciatingly painful loss,” said Spartans coach Ben Josephson. “To give up a 2-0 lead in your own building is unacceptable. If we want to be a championship team, that is unacceptable. We’ve proven we’re not ready for championship run. Now we have to train to become that kind of team.”

“They had a ton of emotion in the third set and it took us 15 or 16 points to match it, but we never did stop them after that. We lost our aggression. I thought we played timid in the fourth set and let that one slide away. In the fifth set, we played fine and it was anyone’s game, but they thoroughly outplayed us in the important sets.”

In the first set, the Spartans took control early on when they took a 7-7 tie and scored four straight points to go up 11-7. Brandon never got closer than three points the rest of the way. Trinity Western forced its agenda in the late stages and pulled away for a nine-point win. A kill from Thiessen ended the set.

In the second set, the Spartans went up 8-3 early and maintained that advantage up to 18-13. But then Brandon rallied with a 10-1 run, aided by four Bobcats blocks, that gave the visitors a 23-19 lead. But just as it looked like the Bobcats were primed to tie the match, the Spartans came right back. With Branden Schmidt (De Winton, Alta.) inserted for Brad Kufske, TWU scored five straight points – two coming via Schmidt kills – to give the Spartans a crack at set point. A kill by Brandon’s Ching tied it 24-24, but back-to-back kills from TWU’s Marshall completed the late-set rally.

The Bobcats led for most of the third set, but the Spartans never let them get any further than four points clear. With TWU down 22-20, a Marshall kill followed by a Van Berkel ace tied the set 22-22. After that, the teams traded points up until 27-27. The Spartans had one crack at match point, at 26-25 but Brandon held them off and then, with the score knotted at 27, Tuivai produced a kill and a block to earn the 29-27 win.

In the fourth set, TWU opened an 11-7 lead after a Van Berkel kill, but Brandon responded with a 6-0 run that gave the Bobcats a 13-11 lead. After a Spartans timeout, TWU went on a 5-1 run that reversed the lead, giving the home side a 16-14 advantage at the technical break. Out of the timeout, it was Brandon catching fire as it produced five straight points to force TWU to take a timeout with the Bobcats up 19-16. From there, Brandon kept the pressure on and, with Tuivai’s 19th kill of the night, the Bobcats took the set by five.

In the fifth set, the Bobcats grabbed a quick 6-4 lead but TWU replied with four straight points that gave the Spartans an 8-6 edge. Trinity Western maintained at least a one-point edge until Brandon tied it 11-11. Then, with the Spartans up 13-12, a Tuivai block got Brandon going in the right direction. Two points later and a match-winning Boutwell block and Brandon earned the weekend split and its biggest win of the season.

The Spartans are back at home next weekend when they host Manitoba Jan. 18-19 at the Langley Events Centre. The Bobcats return to Brandon next weekend for a series against Alberta Jan. 18-19.

Game Notes: TWU finished with a .196 attacking percentage while Brandon hit .200…TWU out-blocked Brandon 17.5-14…TWU had a 6-5 edge in aces…TWU was playing without outside hitter Nick Del Bianco (Surrey, B.C.) for the second straight night as he attended his brother’s wedding.

Source: York Sports Info

TORONTO - The York University Lions men's volleyball team rallied from two-sets-to-one down but was defeated in five sets by the Toronto Varsity Blues on Saturday night (Jan. 12) at the Tait McKenzie Centre.
 
After a heroic effort for victory in the fourth set, the Lions failed to gather any momentum in the deciding fifth and lost the critical set 15-9. It was a disappointing finish to a game that saw the Lions repeatedly rallying from behind to put its sets on the board.
 
The Lions struggled in the first set despite strong defensive performances from outside hitter Karim Khalil (Mississauga, Ont.) and middle Felipe Humana-Paredes (Toronto), whose performance at the net resulted in several critical blocks, and went on to drop the first set by a score of 25-19.
 
After a slow start to the second, the Lions went on a 12-2 run that saw them explode past the Blues en route to a 25-16 set victory to even the match up at one set apiece. Outside hitter Ray Szeto (Sutton, Ont.) served for a six-point streak in the set despite repeated frustrating digs Toronto libero Michael Denton (Scarborough, Ont.).
 
The third set presented the toughest challenge yet to each team as neither could manage to establish a strong lead. The teams traded points more or less from the outset, culminating in a tense 26-24 set finish in favour of the Varsity Blues as they pulled ahead 2-1.
 
The Lions leapt to an early lead in the fourth set and held onto a significant lead for most of the stanza. Despite a rousing comeback by the Varsity Blues, the deficit was too great and the Blues fell short, dropping the fourth to the Lions 25-20 and setting the stage for the deciding final set.
 
Marko Dakic (Mississauga, Ont.) played the strongest game for the Lions, earning a match-high 23.5 points on 20 kills, two service aces and 1.5 blocks. Szeto had 17 points, all kills, as well as leading the Lions in digs, with 15. Gregory Ivan (Toronto) added 17 points as well, from seven kills, two service aces and a team-leading seven blocked shots.
 
Jonathan Adomait (Dundas, Ont.) led the Blues with 15 points and 10 digs, earning 12 kills, two service aces and one block. Denton led the team in assists, registering 39 of the team's 49 total assists.
 
The Lions' next game is on Friday (Jan. 18) against the Gryphons in Guelph at 8pm. Their next home game is a tough matchup against the Windsor Lancers on Friday (Jan. 25) at 8pm at Tait McKenzie Centre.

Source: McMaster Sports Info

HAMILTON, Ont. - McMaster persevered in a long, five-set battle to come away with a 3-2 win and continue the unbeaten conference run that has seen the Marauders win 11-consecutive matches.
 
Jayson McCarthy had 21.5 points for the Marauders in the win, converting 17 of 30 hitting attempts. Dany Demyanenko added 17 points, including 14 kills on 19 attempts.
 
Robert Wojcik led the Rams in a losing effort, putting up 18 points and 15 kills.
 
A close beginning to the match saw the Marauders take a 9-6 lead when a serve took a fortunate bounce, rolling limply over the tape and finding the Rams' side of the floor. Ryerson was often its own worst enemy in the opening set, and a slew of errors helped the Marauders take a 16-12 lead into the technical timeout.
 
The trend continued after the break, and yet another attack pushed long gave McMaster a seven-point lead a 21-14. The deficit was too much for the visitors, and after an ace from Jayson McCarthy gave the hosts a set point, Ryerson's Robert Wojcik fired a jump serve into the bottom of the net to end it 25-18.
 
The second set developed much as the first had before it, with the two teams remaining close until the midpoint. McMaster edged ahead 14-13 when Dany Demyanenko converted a quick in the middle through a double block. That slim lead held into the technical timeout, as the Marauders entered the break with a 16-15 advantage.
 
But the Rams fought back late in the second set, aided in large part by their blocking efforts. Jori Mantha fell into a double block on the left and the Marauders were forced to call time trailing 23-21. McMaster used the timeout well, and sent the set into extra points where McCarthy came up with a clutch spinning ace to take it 28-26.
 
Ryerson's blockers once again took the fore in the third, with Aleksa Miladinovic reeling off a string of stuffs on the right to help his team into a 16-12 lead at the technical timeout. The advantage held as the set progressed, and a Stefan Ristic ace gave the Rams a seven-point lead at 22-15. They would polish off the set just points later, when a miscommunication between setter Austin Campion-Smith and middle Alex Elliot led the latter to whiff on an attack at net, giving Ryerson the set 25-17.
 
The Rams held the early edge again in the fourth, clinching a long rally to move ahead 6-4. But the home side found another level midway through the set, and a Dany Demyanenko kill in the middle propelled McMaster into a 12-10 lead. The back-and-forth set took another turn at the technical, with a Ryerson surge bringing the visitors back into the lead after a well executed double block.
 
The two teams traded points as the set approached a conclusion, with the Rams gaining separation at 24-22 after a Steven Maar attack rolled wide off the tape. Ryerson levelled the match two points later, when the Marauder serve found the bottom of the net.
 
Momentum seemed to be entirely on the visitors' side, but it was the hosts who took the initiative to open the deciding set. McMaster took the first three points of the shortened fifth before Ryerson called time to halt the run. Alex Elliot took the reins as the Marauders raced ahead, bouncing a swing off of the attempted dig for 6-3. The home side's lead only grew from there, and Austin Campion-Smith's well-placed dump gave McMaster match point at 14-7. Demyanenko sealed it with an ace, catching the back line in the process.

Source: Calgary Sports Info

CALGARY – The undefeated Alberta Golden Bears men’s volleyball team made no mistake tonight with the Dinos in Jack Simpson Gymnasium as they defeated them in straight sets (18-25, 15-25, 16-25).

Calgary got off to a rough start in the first set, down 8-4 and later 11-6 due to a sharp Alberta offence. Despite missed serves from both sides of the court, the Bears were picking up everything the Dinos gave them. At the technical timeout, Calgary would find themselves down 16-9.

Forced to call a timeout at 21-15 with nothing going right, the Dinos tried to find a way to put some balls down, but to no avail. With Mitch Irvine and Ryley Barnes on cue for Alberta with five kills a piece, the Dinos would fall in the first 25-18.

Middle Tristan Aubry showed up in the second for the Bears to help them go up 7-3. Needing a sideout, Dino Jeremy Guenther gave it to them with a fantastic kill from the left side. The celebration wouldn’t last long though, as the unstoppable Alberta offence continued to go to work from all positions, including a kill from setter Jarron Mueller. Irvine was the first to reach double digits in the match, tallying ten kills by the end of the second. Dinos went down by two with a 25-15 set win by the Bears.

The teams finally had a battle going in the third with it all tied up early on, with Alberta having just a slight cushion most of the first half of the set. They would finally pull away for the technical timeout, where Jay Olmstead helped lead the Bears to 16-10.

Greg Mann would continue to do his best to rally the troops with his presence in the front row and his solid defence in the back, but would be unable to stop Alberta on offence from a number of places on the court. The results were dismal, as the Dinos would lose the final set of the match 25-16.

Mann led Dinos scorers for the second night in a row with ten kills. Dino Sean Martin followed up with seven of his own. For the Bears, Olmstead had a solid night adding 14 kills. Teammates Irvine and Barnes also hit double digits with 13 and 11 kills, respectively.

The Dinos travel to Kelowna next weekend to take on the UBC Okanagan Heat on January 18 and 19.

Source: Saskatchewan Sports Info

SASKATOON - The No. 8 ranked University of Saskatchewan Huskies extended their Canada West men’s volleyball winning streak to six matches after a 3-0 (25-17, 26-24, 25-22) victory over the visiting Thompson Rivers University WolfPack Saturday night at the PAC in Saskatoon.

Saskatchewan’s win streak began with back-to-back sweeps over the Mount Royal Cougars and Calgary Dinos to close out the first half.  The streak grows to eight matches when including two exhibition wins over Japan’s Budo during the break.

With the pair of wins, Saskatchewan moves to 9-5 on the season, while the No. 9 WolfPack drop to 5-9. A night earlier, the Huskies won 3-0 (25-14, 25-23, 27-25).

The Huskies jumped to a quick lead to begin the first set. Thompson Rivers closed the gap to two points at 6-4, but it was as close as they would come in the game. Saskatchewan outside hitters Bryan Fraser and Matthew Busse took over combining for eight kills in the 25-17 win.

Thompson Rivers closed a 16-8 deficit to take the lead 21-20 in the second set when Huskie errors caught up to them. TRU looked like they were going to take the set at 24-23, but substitute outsider hitter Paul Thomson froze the WolfPack with two commanding attacks to take the 25-24 lead. A Braden McLean solo block in the middle of the court won the set 26-24.

A quick start by the Huskies gave them the momentum to hold the lead to a 25-22 win. The closest the WolfPack came in the set was 24-22 when a Jesse Bazergui attack froze the Huskies back line.

Fraser led the Huskies with 12 kills, while Busse and Thomson each had eight. Busse and Fraser each had five digs on the night, while McLean recorded three solo blocks and two assisted.

Brad Gunter led the WolfPack with 12 kills and Bazergui added another eight. Libero Matt Krueger had a match-high eight digs.

Thompson Rivers returns home to host the UBC Thunderbirds, while the Huskies hit the road to face the University of Winnipeg Wesmen.

Source: UBC Sports Info

VANCOUVER – The No. 6 UBC Thunderbirds rebounded from a painful five-set loss on Friday to drop the Winnipeg Wesmen in straight sets Saturday (25-22, 25-23, 25-22) at War Memorial Gym.

The ‘Birds fell behind by two in the third set and Winnipeg clung to that slim lead until a huge solo block from UBC’s Chris Howe evened the score at 18. After the teams traded a few points, UBC went up 21-20 on another big block from Alex Russell and Milan Nikic.

The score was 23-22 when Jarrid Ireland blasted his 15th kill of the game through the Winnipeg defence, and Casey Schouten’s attack on the next point sailed wide to give UBC the win.

“I was concerned about how we were going to execute today but I thought we did that better,” said UBC head coach Richard Schick. “It was better volleyball where there weren’t these ugly runs of six or seven points, we weren’t down 6-0 to start any sets, so we were more consistent and even when we made an error we bounced back nicely which was good.”

UBC let a 2-0 lead slip away on Friday night against Winnipeg, but the ‘Birds came back strong with a precise, efficient attack led by a great effort from sophomore setter Nikic.

Nikic racked up 37 assists and led all players with 13 digs. He also added three kills at big moments in the match and had three block assists.

“That was one of Milan’s better matches. He even set a lot of nice balls that were hit out bounds so he could have had over 40 assists, but a great night for him,” Schick said.

His favourite target was Ireland, whose 15 kills were a match-high, but Ben Chow had one of his best matches of the season on the outside too. He had 11 kills on .364 hitting, and was a huge part of UBC’s late push in the second set to come from behind and take a 2-0 lead.

“He’s coming back from some injuries and he’s been itching to get out there,” Schick said. “We’ve just been trying to find some time for him because we’ve been doing a lot of good things, but he brings another dimension and we weren’t as predictable with him out there.”

Rob Gotch was a key contributor off the bench late in sets for the second night in a row. He had three kills in three attacks for the ‘Birds, adding an assist and two digs.

“We can’t underestimate what Gotch did again today. He’s our seventh man today, like a sixth man in basketball, just coming in late in sets and doing some really good things, and he just loves it,” Schick said.

Tom Douglas-Powell led the Wesmen with 10 kills. Setter Josh McKay had 28 assists and four kills, adding a couple solo blocks to round out a solid performance.

UBC improves to 9-5 on the year, putting them in a tie for fourth in the conference. Winnipeg is 7-7 on the year, continuing their streak of splitting every series of the conference season so far.  The Wesmen will host Saskatchewan next weekend.

UBC hits the road to play at Thompson Rivers next week. The next home action for the T-Birds will be January 25 and 26 against UBC Okanagan.