CIS men's volleyball Saturday roundup

Source: Western Sports Info

LONDON, Ont.- Coming off of a victory last weekend against the Windsor Lancers, the Western Mustangs men’s volleyball team stepped back onto the court this afternoon to challenge the Queen’s Gaels who sit just under the third place Mustangs in the OUA standings.
 
 However, after the Mustangs 3-0 victory against the Gaels, the will continue to trail in the standings, while the Mustangs improve their record to 9-2.
 
 The set scores were 25-15, 25-16, 25-18
 
 After the game, Mustangs head coach Jim Sage said he was surprised how quickly the game went.
 
 “I expected a little bit more battle from them. It’s a big rivalry that my guys get up for,” he said. “I think it was our most complete match of the year. I think that we are starting to put things together—it’s a good time, and things are rolling well.
 
 “Jack Creaghan came in [...] he was an irregular starter and I think he did a great job,” he continued.
 
 Leading the Mustangs was Garrett May with a game high of 15 points with 15 kills on 21 attempts. Fourth-year Alan Screaton followed behind with eight points and eight digs.
 
 The game started well for the Mustangs who earned the first point, followed by another eight to take a commanding lead. Left side May found his stride early, and the Queen’s defense was unable to respond, allowing the Mustangs to surge to a quick 16-6 lead by the technical time out.
 
 Although the Gaels managed to score four points, the Mustangs quickly found their game once again. Hustling around the court was setter Sean McKay who was saving the ball at all costs. And it proved to be valuable as his team hung on for the 25-15 set win.
 
 The second set began as a point for point affair with neither team able to gain the momentum. But before long Western once again found their rhythm, forcing Queen’s to call a timeout.
 
 Maintaining their lead, Western fought for every point to keep an edge on Queen’s. Strong blocking from middle Phil James helped Western gain a strong six-point lead. The Mustangs controlled the remainder of the set and it ended 25-16 in their favour.
 
 Looking for the sweep, the Mustangs once again got off to a strong start in the third set. Thanks to powerful hitting from middle Creaghan, the Mustangs continued to lead the Gaels. The white and purple maintained consistency throughout the set and Queen’s could not overcome Creaghan’s blocking. The Mustangs took the third set 25-18.
 
 Leading the Gaels was Mike Tomlinson with a team high of 6.5 points, followed by Ivo Dramov who earned 10 digs.
 
 The Mustangs return to home court tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 p.m. when they take on the Royal Military College Paladins.

Source: Sheldon Appelle, Winnipeg Sports Info

WINNIPEG - The No 10 ranked Winnipeg Wesmen gained a split in their two match series against the No. 8 ranked Saskatchewan Huskies with a 3-1 (27-25, 25-17, 21-25, 26-24) victory Saturday night in Winnipeg.

The Huskies won the opening match of the weekend series Friday night in five sets.

Winnipeg improves their record with the win to 8-8. The Huskies fall to 10-6.

In the opening set the Huskies gained the advantage early on jumping out to a 16-11 lead at the technical timeout. Winnipeg settled down and managed to tie the score at 20-20 late in the set. The teams exchanged points to 25-25 when Kenny McKenzie had a kill to give Winnipeg set point and on the next play McKenzie put up the wall to give the Wesmen a 27-25 win in the opening set.

In the second set both teams came out battling to an even score of 8-8 until Winnipeg seized control. The Wesmen outscored the Huskies 8-4 to take a 16-12 lead at the technical timeout. Winnipeg extended their lead to 22-14 late in the set and eventually went on to win the set 25-17. Winnipeg's outside hitters Tom Douglas Powell and Casey Schouten had six and four kills respectively in the set for the Wesmen.

The Huskies relied on strong net play in the third set to get back into the match. Saskatchewan had five blocks in the set and got timely kills from the duo of Bryan Fraser and Matthew Busse to win the set 25-21.

The fourth set was a tight affair all throughout and as the trend has been all weekend extra points was needed. The teams battled to 24-24 until back to back kills by McKenzie and Douglas Powell gave the Wesmen a 26-24 set victory to close out the match.

Tom Douglas Powell led the Wesmen with a match high 17 kills. Casey Schouten added 12 kills. Kenny McKenzie had eight kills and was solid at the net finishing with four blocks. Setter Josh McKay had 42 assists to go with his team leading 10 digs.

Paul Thomson led the Huskies with 14 kills. Matthew Busse added 12 kills and four blocks. Bryan Fraser finished with eight kills. Jeffrey Grant led the Huskies with 13 digs.

Winnipeg will be on the road next week in Edmonton to face the Alberta Golden Bears. Saskatchewan will be home to face the Brandon Bobcats.

Source: Matt Packwood, Brandon Sports Info

BRANDON - The #1 Alberta Golden Bears picked up a road win 3-1 (25-20, 25-21, 31-33, 25-21) over the host Brandon Bobcats to remain perfect on the season. The Bobcats fought off elimination three times in the third set before taking it, but the Bears proved to be too much over the course of the entire match, living up to their #1 ranking.
 
Alberta was led by powerhouse outside hitters Mitch Irvine (28 kills, 10 digs) and Jay Olmstead (23 kills, six digs). Jarron Mueller finished the contest with 57 assists, while Erik Mattson finished with a match-high 15 digs.
 
The Bobcats were led for the second night in a row by Sam Tuivai, who put up 20 kills. Roy Ching notched a double-double (11 kills, 11 digs) while fifth-year setter Garrett Popplestone had 47 assists.
 
Up next for the Golden Bears is a weekend series in which they will welcome the Winnipeg Wesmen, while the Bobcats will travel to Saskatchewan to take on the Huskies.

Source: Michelle Pino, Guelph Sports Info

GUELPH, Ont. - The Guelph Gryphons men's volleyball team dropped 3-1 to the visiting McMaster Marauders.  The loss puts the Gryphons at 3-10 on the season while keeps the Marauders' streak alive for their 13th to go 13-0.  Set scores were 26-24, 22-25, 17-25 and 17-25.

Winston Rosser (Whitby, Ont.) led all point getters tonight with 18 (15 kills, 2 aces, 1 block). Rookie Timothy Warnholtz (Guelph, ON) also tallied an impressive performance with 15 kills.

The first set got off to a shaky start with both teams swapping control of the scoreboard until the Marauders were finally able to pull ahead by two at 10-8.  However, the Gryphon pressure at the net remained persistent to keep the set within reach.  And, with the combined blocking forces of Phillip Wessel (Cambridge, ON) and Kyle Richards (London, ON) the Gryphons were able to set Winston Rosser up for six kills in the first to regain their lead at 18-17.  The Gryphons were able to stretch their lead to three as the set entered its final stages with the Gryphons ahead 22-19.  But a final surge from McMaster tied the game at 24 to force the advantage but Guelph held on to claim the first set 26-24.

The Marauders came out in the second intent to fix earlier mistakes as they charged ahead to take an early 8-5 lead.  As the Marauders marched slowly ahead on the scoreboard to extend their lead, attacks from Andrew Whitaker (Sharon, ON) and Timothy Warnholtz swayed the momentum in Guelph's favour to once again enter the technical timeout behind by one.  The Gryphons were able to tie the game at 17 with kill from Marc Wilson (Stratford, ON).  However, the Marauders were able to re-establish their control of the court to take the second 25-22.

After a tight second set, the Gryphons came out slow in the third to let the Marauders mount an early 8-1 lead.  Despite facing their largest deficit thus far on the night, the Gryphons refused to let up as Whitaker revitalized the Gryphon offence with consecutive kills to bring the game to within six.  However, the last minute effort could not reign in the Marauder's momentum who were able to push through to take their second set with a 25-17 win in the third.

The Gryphons re-established their earlier momentum but were unable to piece together a consistent streak as the lead was exchanged sporadically throughout the opening stages.  However, Tyson Alexander was able to piece together consecutive kills to ignite the offensive rhythm to pitch forward 16-12.  Determined to push the game to five, the Gryphons were able to match the Marauders'  intensity for the remainder of the set but were unable to close the gap as the Marauders' sealed the night with a 25-17 win in the fourth.

The Gryphons next travel to Toronto to take on the Ryerson Rams.  The game is scheduled for 8:00 pm on January 26.

Source: Larry Read, Thompson Rivers Sports Info

Kamloops, BC—The old TRU Gym was the site of another classic Canada West men’s volleyball battle. Like two gladiators: the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack and the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds battled hard.   So hard, that they broke two nets.  When the match was over-the T-Birds reigned supreme with a  3-1 victory over the WolfPack.

The scores were 25-20,18-25,25-17,25-23.  UBC moves to 10 and 6 on the year while TRU falls to 6 and 10.

“We played a little more aggressively today,” said Thunderbirds bench boss Richard Schick.

“ We matched TRU’s intensity.”

Schick praised the play of his middles. “ They have been a workhorse for us all year.  TRU struggled a little bit on the outside tonight.  Their middles stepped up but our guys have been there all year for us. “

“It was a good match with lots of emotion and intensity,” said WolfPack head coach Pat Hennelly. “ Unfortunately we had a couple of nets break in the fourth set which took away some of our momentum. But that’s sport right?.   I thought my guys played well. They came out a little flat in the first set, they rebounded but were a little flat in the third.  We were strong in the fourth.”

Hennelly gave credit to UBC middle Alex Russell (2nd year, Surrey, BC).  “He is a Junior National team member and he showed it tonight with his blocking.  He was a real difference maker.”

On his own team, Hennelly praised the play of a few players.  “ I thought Brad Gunter (2nd year, outside hitter, Courtenay, BC) had a great night tonight.  Jesse Bazergui (3rd year, outside hitter, White Rock, BC) comes in there in the fourth set and provided a spark defensively with his serving.  I thought he did a lot of the little things right.   I thought this was Jake (Jacob Tricarico, 4th year, middle, Huntington Beach, CA) ‘s career match with his attack percentage and effort.”

Tricarico was named the TRU Bookstore/McDonalds “Leader of the Pack” player of the match with13 kills in 15 chances. He hit .800 with two digs, a solo block and two block assists.  

Gunter had 20 kills in 37 chances with two service aces and a team high nine digs.
Colin Carson (4th year, setter, Prince George, BC) had 40 assists.

UBC was led by Jarrid Ireland (2nd year, outside hitter, Winnpeg, MB) with 12 kills in 33 opportunities.  Ben Chow (2nd year, outside hitter, Surrey, BC) had 11 kills in 27 chances.  Russell had six kills in 13 chances with four solo blocks and five block assists.   Milan Nikic (2nd year, setter, Calgary, AB) had 34 assists while Ian Perry (3rd year, libero, Abbotsford, BC) had 13 digs.

The WolfPack hit the road for two matches in Calgary next weekend (January 25-26) against the Dinos while the Thunderbirds entertain the UBCO Heat.

SIDE OUTS: Before the game, the WolfPack handed out their inaugural TRU Athletics Community Leadership Awards.  Assistant coaches Chad Grimm and Jake Schmidt were the recipients.  Schmidt has just joined the WolfPack men’s program.  He played with the University College of the Cariboo in 1990-92 and returned to coach the program from 1994-97. He was the first coach to take the program to Nationals.  He has since coached at the club and school level.

Grimm played for UCC before heading overseas to play in Denmark and Belguim.  He has been helping coach the WolfPack men’s program for five years along with coaching high school volleyball in Kamloops and being a part of the Team BC program.

Source: UBC Okanagan Sports Info

KELOWNA, BC - The UBC Okanagan Heat men’s volleyball team couldn’t keep pace with the visiting University of Calgary Dinos, after taking the first two sets the Dinos pulled away late in the tightly contested third set for the match and weekend sweep (25-16, 25-18, 26-24).

High-flying middle Brett Uniat (5th year, Cochrane, AB) was named the Heat Player of the Game after contributing a team-high tying nine kills and three block assists. The Heat’s 6’4” middle did not back down against Calgary’s six-foot-ten middle Jovan Jankovic directly across the net.

An inability to slow the Dinos at the net frustrated the Heat all game long as the Dinos posted a .230 hitting percentage on the way to 38 kills.

The Heat couldn’t matchup on their side of the net as they piled up 18 attack errors and only 29 kills off of 29 assists. Riley McFarland’s (5th year, Surrey, BC) hand cooled off significantly following his three games to start 2013 where he tallied an incredible 80 kills. Tonight he finished with nine kills though he did contribute eight digs in the effort as well.

Due to a constant attack from the Dinos, rookie setter Kristoff Schlagintweit (Abbotsford, BC) was often unable to get a proper touch on the ball to set up the Heat attack and finished with only 22 of his team’s 29 assists.

“[Riley] and Kristoff didn’t quite have the connection that they normally have been having,” said assistant coach Kyle Joslin in a postgame interview.

After two unpromising sets amid confusion and a lack of confidence against a Dinos squad that had everything rolling for them, the Heat still dug deep and found a way to nearly bring themselves back in the game in the third set. The Heat dropped sets one a two 19-25 and 18-25 respectively.

“All year we’ve been struggling with getting down on ourselves and getting angry within [while] on the court and showing it,” Joslin added. “We’ve kind of been fixing that and for the most part stayed positive and celebrated on our side of the net whenever we did something positive and didn’t let the negative stuff drag us down—that was one good thing.”

Positivity kept the Heat hanging tough in the third set, and after back-to-back blocks by a Uniat/Schlagintweit duo, the Heat looked to have received a healthy boost of confidence.

“We [the coaches] stayed positive with them and [gave them] keys, things to think about for the next play … try to forget about what has happened. That’s already over. The next play is usually what we want them to focus on,” Joslin also said.

The Heat are now 2-14 and will search for their third of the season next as they hit the road to visit their sister school the UBC Thunderbirds. The Heat split with the T’Birds in Kelowna last fall and will play for the first time in league play at venerable War Memorial Gymnasium. Friday’s first serve is slated for 8:00 p.m.

Watch the action on www.canadawest.tv.

Source: Trinity Western Sports Info

LANGLEY, British Columbia – For the second straight night, the No. 6 Manitoba Bisons came from behind to earn a five-set victory over the No. 3 Trinity Western men’s volleyball team, winning 3-2 (25-20, 23-25, 14-25, 25-23, 15-13) Saturday at the Langley Events Centre.

After rallying from a 2-1 set deficit to force a fifth set, in the final set, down 13-12, the Bisons (10-6) scored the last three points of the match to take the set 15-13 and the match. After Manitoba earned points on a Spartans (11-5) back row attack error followed by another TWU attack error, the match’s final point came on an overpass by Manitoba’s Luke Herr (Winnipeg) that flummoxed the Spartans and fell untouched just on the TWU side of the net.

The Spartans have now lost three straight five setters and have lost three matches in a row in Canada West league play for the first time since a four-game slide that spanned from Nov. 10, 2007 to Jan. 12, 2008.

Despite out-blocking Manitoba 20.5 to eight, including holding a Bisons team that leads Canada West in blocks  to just four through the first four sets, the Spartans found themselves on the losing end. The Spartans also out-hit Manitoba .193 to .112 but it was TWU’s 17 serving errors to just one ace that was largely the home side’s undoing.

For Manitoba, it was Dane Pischke (Winnipeg) leading the way with 14 kills and a match-high 20 digs while Chris Voth (Winnipeg), who got injured midway through the third set, also had 14 kills. Kenny Rooney (Winnipeg) had a team-high four blocks. Setter Chris Komishon (Winnipeg), who only played three sets, had 21 assists, while Herr, who replaced Komishon midway through the match, had 19 assists.

Trinity Western was led by Nick Del Bianco (Surrey, B.C.), who had 22 kills and 13 digs. Steven Marshall (Abbotsford, B.C.) added 18 kills, 12 digs and six blocks. Dan Jansen Van Doorn (Langley) had career-high 14 blocks along with four kills while setter Scott Plocktis (Kelowna, B.C.), who replaced Jarrod Offereins (Calgary) early in the match, had 50 assists. Jansen Van Doorn’s previous career-high was 13, which came against Alberta in the CIS national championship quarter-final Mar. 4, 2011.

“We are having a hard time finding the competitive balance required to win these tough matches against playoff opponents,” said Spartans coach Ben Josephson. “Some athletes are under-activated and some might be over-activated and the pressure is getting to them. Not a lot of these guys have been in these types of matches and had to play as big of a role as they do now.

“We’re still looking for that balance, which allows our guys to play to their abilities and play within the context of the system. Our play and, particularly that serving number is a product of this lack of balance. I feel like our team is prepared but we just make emotional and mental errors and to me that has a lot to do with my ability to prepare the team, to manage expectations and focus on the job at hand. Unfortunately I need to take the brunt of these losses.”

The first set saw Manitoba run out to a 5-1 lead and never trail. With all the set’s momentum, Manitoba controlled the play and built as much as a nine-point lead, at 18-9. Trinity Western made it interesting with a 9-2 run that saw the Spartans get to within two points, at 20-18, but they couldn’t get any closer. A kill by Pischke stemmed the TWU momentum and got Manitoba back on track. The Bisons finished the set with five of the last seven points and a Spartans attack error ended the set.

The second set was all Manitoba early on. The Bisons possessed a lead past the technical timeout and then pushed their advantage to 19-14. However, that’s when TWU turned the set around. After a Spartans timeout, TWU came out of the break fired up. The Spartans launched a 7-1 run, helped by three Jansen Van Doorn-aided blocks, that gave TWU a 21-20 lead. Then, after Manitoba made tied it up 23-23, the Bisons put their subsequent serve out of bounds to set up set point. That’s when a monster kill off the left side by Marshall ended the set and completed the comeback.

After the teams traded points early in the third set, the Spartans started to pull away with the score 10-9 in their favour. A kill by Del Bianco – one of seven he earned in the set – gave TWU an 11-9 lead but it was also after that point that Manitoba’s Voth went down with a leg injury. With Voth out for the rest of the set and the match, the Spartans pushed their lead to 13-9 and, from there, seized momentum. With the score 18-14, TWU finished the set with seven straight points and with a Jansen Van Doorn kill, TWU took the set by 11 points. The Spartans had a 5-0 advantage in blocks in the third set.

In the fourth set, Manitoba took a 9-6 lead and, while TWU kept it close, the Bisons managed to keep an advantage throughout. The Spartans tied it 11-11 and several times got to within one, but each time TWU got close, Manitoba surged ahead. With the score 24-23, Pischke’s eighth kill of the set earned Manitoba the win and forced a fifth set.

With three blocks in a row from Manitoba, nearly equaling the four they had garnered throughout the rest of the match combined, the Bisons scored themselves a 4-1 lead. After TWU tied it 6-6, following a Marshall kill, the Bisons promptly went on a 4-0 run, capped by an ace from Rooney. With the score 11-7, the Spartans put a restart on the game with four straight points that made it 11-11 to force Manitoba into a timeout. Out of the break TWU scored two more points to give the Spartans its first lead of the set since the first point. But shortly thereafter, with the Spartans up 13-12, Manitoba scored the last three points of the night to complete the comeback and the road sweep.

The Spartans will travel to Calgary next weekend to play Mount Royal Jan. 25-26. Manitoba returns home to play Regina Jan. 26-27.

Game Notes: Manitoba had 67 digs to TWU’s 63…Manitoba had 3 aces and 7 serving errors.