CIS men's volleyball Friday roundup: Bobcats beat No. 1 Golden Bears, earn trip to CIS championship

Source: Western Sports Info

HAMILTON, Ont. – The Western Mustangs are headed back to the CIS Men’s Volleyball Championship for the second consecutive season. The team secured a spot in the national championship with a 3-1 victory over the Waterloo Warriors in the OUA Semi-Final tonight in Hamilton.

Set scores were 25-22, 20-25, 25-13, 25-17.

Garrett May led the Mustangs with 22 points, 22 kills, and a .381 hitting percentage. Justin Scapinello was second on the score sheet with 14 points and nine kills. Countering for the Warriors were Tyler Motherwell and Zachary Doherty with 14.5 and 12.5 points respectively.

With two OUA teams receiving berths in the CIS Championships the Mustangs earned a spot in the national championship with the win, as well as a spot in tomorrow’s OUA Final in Hamilton.

The Mustangs now await the result of the McMaster-York matchup, with the winner earning the other spot in the gold medal game tomorrow at 7:00 p.m.

Source: Fraser Caldwell, McMaster Sports Info

HAMILTON, Ont. - Two weeks ago, the York Lions proved that the McMaster Marauders are, in fact, human.
 
But with a berth in the OUA title game and the CIS Championship on the line, the Marauders repaid that lesson in brutal fashion, smashing the Lions in straight sets to arrange a showdown with the Western Mustangs on Saturday.
 
The Mustangs dispatched the Waterloo Warriors in four sets in the earlier semifinal, with OUA Player of the Year Garrett May putting his credentials on full display and notching 22 points – all kills – on 42 hitting attempts.
 
Then the show began for the Marauders.
 
Set scores were 25-17, 25-13 and 25-20 in favour of the hosts from McMaster, who were in total control of Friday's match from the opening serve.
 
Jori Mantha was the undisputed star of the match, amassing 16 points on 14 kills on 17 hitting attempts with only a single error (76.5%). In his first match since returning from injury, rookie outside Jayson McCarthy fired down five aces.
 
Middle hitter Gregory Ivan was the Lions' leading scorer, with 10 points and seven kills on 11 hitting attempts. He added two solo blocks.
 
The Marauders got off to a dream start on Friday night, winning seven of the first eight points and forcing the Lions to use their second timeout after a combo block on the right by Alex Elliot and McCarthy. Third-year outside Mantha was carrying play, and had four kills to his name before the teams hit the technical timeout.
 
When Elliot polished off the trademark quick-set in the middle, the Marauders carried a deserved 16-8 lead into the technical timeout.
 
The rout continued after the break, with York unable to chip away at the massive deficit it faced. Edward Lai planted a float serve into the bottom of the net to bring up set point, before Ray Szeto went wide to end the first 25-17 in the Marauders' favour.
 
McMaster carried their momentum into the second, and led 5-2 when York called time after Felipe Humana-Paredes' attack landed wide from the middle. The Lions made a momentary comeback, but another Marauder run put the home side up 16-11 at the technical attack as a York attack limply landed wide.
 
Consecutive aces from McCarthy stretched McMaster's lead to eight at 20-12, and effectively put the set out of York's reach. A soft tip from Elliot brought up set point at 24-14, before Kevin Stevens ended the set two points later.
 
The trend continued into the third, as the Lions appeared to have no answer for the Marauders' attacking balance. The defence followed suit for McMaster, and they took an 18-13 lead after a miraculous dig by Mantha as York called time. The third-year outside continued to loom large, notching consecutive kills for 23-17 as the match quickly slipped away from the Lions.
 
Humana-Paredes' float serve sailed well wide to bring up match point at 24-19, and when Szeto's attack went long two points later, it was all over. A dominating performance was complete for the Marauders, who bounced back from their only defeat of the 2012-13 season.

Source: Matt Gutsch, Alberta Sports Info

EDMONTON - On the strength of 32 kills from Sam Tuivai and Roy Ching, the No.8 ranked Brandon University Bobcats volleyball team scored a thrilling 3-1 victory (24-26, 25-23, 25-23 and 27-25) over the No.1 ranked University of Alberta Golden Bears, during the opening match of the Canada West Final Four championship at the Saville Community Sports Centre in Edmonton.

Alberta, winners of Canada West bronze in 2012, will now once again play for the third podium spot in the conference when they take on either the Trinity Western Spartans or the UBC Thunderbirds Saturday at 6:00 p.m. The two B.C.-based teams will clash at 8:30 p.m. on Friday night in Edmonton. Brandon, meanwhile, will play for Canada West gold on Saturday against the winner of the UBC-TWU match, and, more importantly, has booked itself a berth to the CIS championship which will be held March 1-3 at the Université Laval.

Only the top three teams from the Canada West championship advance to the national tournament next weekend, and now the Golden Bears will have to win on Saturday to play in Quebec. Alberta, owners of a 20-2 regular season record, had only lost 12 sets this year, while also winning 12 matches out of 22 in straight sets.

On Friday, they was led by fourth-year left-side Jay Olmstead, who recorded 15 kills and a .333 hitting percentage. Fifth-year libero Erik Mattson, the 2013 Canada West Libero of the Year, had a match high 16 digs, while fifth-year Mitch Irvine, the newly crowned Canada West MVP, had 13 kills and 13 digs.

Sixteen kills each by Tuivai, who was earlier named a Canada West First Team All-star, and Ching, who are both members of the New Zealand national team, paced the Bobcats. Dan Boutwell had nine kills in the win, while setter Garrett Poppelstone dished out 43 assists and libero Jeremy Davies banked 13 digs.

The two teams were neck-and-neck throughout the match, statistically even in most categories after the match. Only a few minor differences separated wins from losses on Friday night, chief among them: the service line. Brandon, which lost a pair of 3-1 matches to the Bears earlier this year, was much better at the service line on the night, spinning five aces to Alberta’s zero. And, while the Golden Bears had a better attack percentage (.194 to .167), the ‘Cats did attempt more attacks (144 to 134) and recorded more kills (57 to 52). A combined 10 points from the service line and attacks was all Brandon needed to slip past their hosts.

Olmstead was an absolute force in the opening set; crushing eight kills on 10 attempts, with no errors to force a Golden Bears 26-24 comeback win over Brandon. After an early 4-2 lead the Bears trailed for the remainder of the set, including deficits of 11-6 and 24-16. Despite that significant disadvantage, Alberta slowly chipped away, and soon enough put themselves in the driver’s seat where they were able to score 10 straight points for the win.

Ching, a freshman from New Zealand, picked up six kills in the second set, while Tuivai, a sophomore, recorded five. Brandon also picked up three aces in middle frame, while Alberta recorded three service errors. The Golden Bears were sharper on the attack, but the mistakes at the service line cost them, and they also committed three serve receive errors as well.

Three more errors in the serving game cost Alberta a 25-23 loss in the third set, as both teams struggled on the attack. The Bears connected on just .029 of their attacks, while Brandon fared no better at .028.

It looked like the Golden Bears would force a fifth and final set, as they led for most of the fourth set, but they simply could not find continued success on the attack against Brandon, and once again, the serving game cost them. Alberta gave up two combined points in each of the serve and serve receive categories, while Brandon picked up an ace. Tuivai was also a significant play maker in the fourth as he pounded nine kills to hoist his team over the No.1 ranked Golden Bears for the 27-25 win, a shot at the Canada West title and a CIS championship berth.

Brandon will play on Saturday at 8:00 p.m. for Canada West gold, while Alberta will play for bronze, and the last remaining CIS berth, at 6:00 p.m.

Source: Matt Gutsch, Alberta Sports Info

EDMONTON - The defending national champion Trinity Western University Spartans’ men’s volleyball team stormed back from a 2-0 deficit to defeat the UBC Thunderbirds in five sets (23-25, 18-25, 25-19, 26-24, 17-15) in match two of the Canada West Final Four championship tournament, Friday night at the Saville Community Sports Centre in Edmonton.

With the win, TWU advances to the conference gold medal match on Saturday at 8:00 p.m. against the surprising Brandon University Bobcats. Earlier in the evening, Brandon upset No.1 ranked Alberta in four sets to earn a shot at the conference title. Both the Spartans and the Bobcats have earned berths to the CIS championship, which will be held March 1-3 at Université Laval.

The Thunderbirds, meanwhile, will play the host Golden Bears on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. for third place and the final national championship berth.

Richard Schick’s UBC squad was in control from the get-go on Friday, and statistically were the better team when the match was over. They earned 63 kills, a .222 hitting percentage, six aces and 51 digs, while Trinity picked up 58 kills, a .216 attack rating, two aces and 46 digs. The devil, as it were, was in the details as Trinity simply made fewer mistakes. While the T-Birds racked up six aces, they also spun a costly 17 errors from the service line, while TWU made 12 errors. And, on relatively the same number of total attacks (158 by UBC, 153 by TWU), the Spartans made three fewer attack errors, 25 to 28, and ended up winning the final two sets by four points combined.

The Thunderbirds waltzed out to a 2-0 match score thanks to an imposing service game. UBC banked four aces in the first two sets, compared to zero for Trinity. The Vancouver based squad also got 10 kills from second-year Jarrid Ireland through two sets, as well as two aces. The Winnipeg born outside hitter was a force all night, finishing with a team high 21 kills and 14 digs, as well as two aces and .302 hitting percentage.

However, as good as UBC was through the first two sets, Trinity was even better in the third, as they shook off the deficit to play their best volleyball of the evening.

Ben Josephson’s team connected on 17 of their 30 attacks in the third set, with just two errors for a dazzling .500 attack rating. Nicholas Del Bianco, a third-year outside hitter, put down six of those 17 kills in the third, and raised his personal hitting percentage to 50% on the evening in the process. Del Bianco banked 14 kills in the first three sets and was definitely the focal point of the Trinity resurgence. He finished with a match high 22 kills.

Still, it was almost all for naught as UBC refused to give into Trinity’s comeback plans. The two B.C. rivals were neck-and-neck throughout the fourth set, but the T-Birds had the match in their hands at 24-23 and were unable to put TWU away. Facing a loss, the Spartans rallied for a stirring 26-24 win, and forced a fifth and final set.

With a CIS berth on the line, and a shot at conference glory, UBC and Trinity literally traded points back-and-forth with each other for the first 11 points. At 11-11, TWU managed to squeak ahead 13-11, only to have UBC retort with a quick 2-0 run for the tie score. Two points later, the teams were tied at 15-15, and after TWU jumped ahead 16-15, a Spartan attack sailed off UBC’s block and out of the court for the match winning point.

The Spartans will now face Brandon in the Canada West championship match on Saturday at 8:00 p.m. Trinity Western won the conference banner in 2012. UBC will face Alberta for Canada West bronze and the final CIS berth on Saturday at 6:00 p.m.