CIS men's volleyball Saturday roundup: Marauders, Bobcats claim conference titles

Source: Michael P. Hall, McMaster Sports Info

HAMILTON, Ont. - A night after the most brutally efficient performance of his career, Jori Mantha repeated the trick on the largest of stages.
 
 The third-year outside hitter amassed a game-high 28 points – including 22 kills on 44 hitting attempts – as the McMaster Marauders battled past a game Western Mustangs side to claim the OUA title in four sets. Mantha was recognized as the Most Valuable Player of the Final Four for his combined efforts on Friday and Saturday nights.
 
 Set scores were 25-27, 26-24, 32-30 and 25-20 for the CIS no. 2-ranked Marauders, who overcame a setback in the opening frame and consistent struggles from the service line to win their fourth conference banner in the past six seasons.
 
 McMaster now awaits its seeding for the CIS Championships, but with the no. 1-ranked Alberta Golden Bears' loss last night, the Marauders could well claim the top spot in the eight-team national tournament.
 
 Beyond Mantha's mammoth performance, OUA Rookie of the Year Dany Demyanenko notched 15 points and 13 kills on 14 attempts with only a single error, for an ultra-efficient average of 85.7%. Jason McCarthy added five more aces to his final four tally on Saturday, and had 14.5 points and nine kills on the night.
 
 OUA Player of the Year Garrett May led the Mustangs in a losing effort, posting 18 points – all of which were kills – on a team-high 38 hitting attempts.
 
 Both teams struggled from the service line in Saturday's final, with the Marauders committing 16 service errors versus 11 aces, and the Mustangs committing 10 against 10 aces.
 The match was contested very evenly throughout, and that trend was evident from the opening rally. The Marauders held a slim lead early in the opening set, with Mantha notching seven of his 25 kills in the frame, before the Mustangs clawed back to take what proved to be a decisive lead.
 
 Rather than rely exclusively on their star outside hitter May, the visitors from Western were spreading the ball to great effect. Luke Sim and Phil James both benefitted as setter Sean McKay committed to the quick attack through the middle.
 
 Western took an early 5-1 lead in the second set, forcing McMaster to call time and sort out the issues that plagued its serve reception and passing. The Mustangs looked to hold that advantage midway through the set, but the Marauders swung momentum in the late going to push it into extra points.
 
 The teams were neck-and-neck and playing side-out volleyball, when McCarthy found one of his three set-clinching aces on the night. His rocketing spin serve at 25-24 went unreturned by the scrambling Mustangs, and the home side levelled the match at a set apiece.
 
 The third enjoyed the same progression as the second had before it, with Western carving out an early advantage before McMaster embarked on a run to tie things once again. The Marauders returned to the quick offence in the middle that has so often stood as their trademark, with the insertion of fourth-year middle Tyson Alexander proving instrumental in that tactical shift.
 
 He proved to be a steadying influence on the both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball, adding his 6'8” frame to McMaster's blocking scheme with immediate benefits. The teams found themselves once again playing side-out volleyball to conclude the third, and it was McCarthy who provided the dagger once again from the service line. Unperturbed by the occasion, the rookie outside hammered a spin serve that found the far corner to seal the third set 32-30 in McMaster's favour.
 
The fourth and, ultimately, final frame proved less dramatic than the three that had preceded it, with the Marauders making use of their recently seized momentum. Mantha put the finishing touches on his remarkable night as Western was serially unable to answer his challenge.
 
 With the signature Daft Punk tune ringing through the Burridge Gym, McCarthy stepped to the service line at 24-20 and dealt his third set-ending serve, sending the Marauder faithful into rapturous applause and the team itself running to meet one another.

Source: Paul Cartledge, Alberta Sports Info

EDMONTON - For the second-straight season, the No.1 University of Alberta Golden Bears won Canada West bronze, this year taking a straight-sets victory (25-14, 26-24, 25-20) over the No.7 UBC Thunderbirds on Saturday night at the Saville Community Sports Centre. Alberta's win also clinches the last conference berth to the CIS Championship tournament, February 28 - March 2 at Université Laval in Quebec City.

Senior right side Mitch Irvine and fourth-year left side Jay Olmstead led the offensive charge, spinning 13 kills apiece while freshman setter Brett Walsh added 30 assists.

Sophomore outside hitters Ben Chow and Jarrid Ireland respectively had 10 and eight kills for the visitors, second-year setter Milan Nikic tying Walsh’s game-high assist mark of 30.

With a trip to nationals on the line, the Bears came out hungry in the opening set, staking out a 7-1 lead from the offence. Fueled by terrific blocking, a 6-1 run pushed the score to 17-8 and First Team Canada West All-Star Olmstead added a couple more kills to his set-high of six to close out the set in favour of the home team.

The two squads then fought back and forth in the middle set, the lead never getting higher than three and, despite UBC evening the score at 24 off a Brendan Yao service error that hit the net, Canada West MVP Irvine and sophomore left side Ryley Barnes avenged the sophomore libero with cross-court kills that gave Alberta a 2-0 set lead.

The T-birds, who lost a conference semi-final to the Trinity Western Spartans on Friday night when the Spartans came back from a 2-0 deficit, tried to parallel the defending national champions in the third set, opening up a 6-2 lead on Alberta but the team that already had 12 straight-set victories in the regular season stormed back with a couple of 6-2 runs and Irvine finished things off with a kill just inside the center of the baseline.

The Golden Bears will only have a few days remaining in Edmonton before they head off to the national tournament at Université Laval and will be joined by both the Brandon Bobcats and Trinity Western Spartans, who play for Canada West gold later tonight.

Source: Paul Cartledge, Alberta Sports Info

EDMONTON – After finishing sixth in the regular season, the No.8 Brandon University Bobcats won their sixth-straight road game to claim their first-ever men’s volleyball Canada West championship over the defending conference and national champions, the No.3 Trinity Western University Spartans, in a four-set win (25-21, 25-22, 23-25, 25-15) Saturday night at the Saville Community Sports Centre.

Auckland, New Zealand native Sam Tuivai netted a game-high 22 kills and four aces in the victory, putting his respective weekend totals at an impressive 38 and six while fellow New Zealander Roy Ching, hailing from Nelson, added 15 kills for a two-game total of 31 at the Canada West Final Four. Senior setter Garrett Popplestone added a game-high 44 assists and 16 digs.

Third-year outside hitter Nicholas Del Bianco headed the Spartan offence with 13 kills in the match, fourth-year outside hitter Steven Marshall contributing 12 while another third-year outside hitter Brad Kufske also broke the double-digit barrier with 10. Senior libero Jarrod Offereins had a team-high 34 assists and 14 digs.

Although both teams clinched a berth to the national championships with victories in semi-final matches on Friday night, there was no shortage of power in the opening set, Tuivai and Ching spinning a half-dozen kills each and garnering attack percentages over 30%. An 11-4 run put the Bobcats up by seven with a 20-13 lead but the Spartans replied with an 8-3 run led by fourth-year middle Lucas Van Berkel to cut the deficit to two before Ching claimed the first set with the last two points.

The Tuivai-Ching duo continued their strong play in the second set, again giving Brandon a 20-13 lead but Trinity Western fought back with blocks or forcing attack errors, closing the deficit to two once more before Kenora, Ont. native Dan Boutwell got the Bobcats closer to their first conference title as Brandon grabbed a 2-0 set lead.

The Spartans, who came back from 2-0 on Friday night against the UBC Thunderbirds to get to the gold medal game, made use of aces, blocks, and a few too many attack errors from an excited Bobcat squad to begin the same storyline in the third set, a back-and-forth affair that ended on a Marshall kill that Brandon could not recover as it caromed towards their bench.

Yet Tuivai wrote a different end to this story, the former New Zealand National Team member throwing down nine kills in the final set, including three in the 7-2 run that ended the game, the First Team Canada West All-Star forcing a powerful kill to the back opposite corner for the 24th point of the set and Ching finishing things off with the decisive point to claim the conference title.

Brandon and Trinity Western will both head to the CIS championships at Université Laval, February 28 – March 2, alongside Canada West bronze medal winner, the Alberta Golden Bears.