Bobcats looking for first playoff win

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This article was published 25/02/2016 (3701 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

New school record for kills in a match? Shanlee McLennan checked that off the list.

New school record for service aces in a match? Yes, that was also McLennan.

New Canada West conference record for aces in a career? McLennan set that mark, too.

New school record for consecutive match wins? The Brandon University Bobcats women’s volleyball team won 12 straight to do that and is riding into the playoffs on a high note.

But there’s one record third-year middle Courtney Roberts and the rest of the Bobcats (15-9) want to break when they open their best-of-three Canada West quarter-final series against the UBC Thunderbirds (17-7) in Vancouver on Friday.

BU has qualified for the playoffs six times, including the past two seasons, but sports an 0-12 record in playoff matches, and only once — in its playoff debut at UBC in 2008 — did they push a match to five sets.

“We’ve broken records already this year, so I feel like it’s definitely a possibility,” Roberts said of erasing that glaring goose egg from the program’s playoff resumé.

“I just have it in my head that we’re just going to keep winning. We might as well not lose the rest of the season.”

Easier said than done against a program that’s reached nationals each of the last eight years, winning six consecutives titles from 2008 to 2013. Nonetheless, the Bobcats swept the T-Birds in Vancouver earlier this season — 3-1 (16-25, 25-15, 27-25, 25-22) on Jan. 15 and 3-0 (25-22, 25-15, 25-12) on Jan. 16 — another first for BU.

“Sweeping them when we did was a great thing for us now that we have to play them in the first round of the playoffs,” Roberts said. “I think it definitely adds more confidence, although when we beat them they had an injured player, which will probably make a difference, but hopefully we’ll be able to shut her down.”

That injured player was six-foot left side Danielle Brisebois. And yes, she’s that good.

The fourth-year Bolton, Ont., product finished third in Canada West with 3.85 kills per set, fourth with a .305 hitting percentage and fifth with 289 kills.

“She is a true power hitter,” UBC head coach Doug Reimer said from Vancouver. “This season I think the big thing is her overall consistency of play has been much higher. No doubt she’s the go-to hitter for us.”

Starting right side Juliana Kaufmanis played sparingly for UBC in the first match against BU and missed the next one. Fellow outside hitter Alissa Coulter was also getting back from a knee injury in mid-January.

“That was our first one back after the break,” Reimer said. “We were beat up and rusty.

“I think Brandon brought a different style of game than maybe we might play and we got a little deer in the headlight-ish with the combination of that and having a different lineup on the court.”

UBC split a road set against the defending national champion Trinity Western Spartans last week, winning the final match in straight sets, which was highlighted by a season-high .500 hitting percentage. The T-Birds finished the regular season with a .249 hitting percentage, tops in Canada West.

BU was seventh at .161, led by McLennan, who sported a .230 mark, 14th in the conference.

Roberts stressed the importance of block defence against UBC.

“I think our blocking is going to be key for us this weekend. As long as we stay disciplined on our blocking plan and our blocking scheme, I think we’ll be able to slow her (Brisebois) down,” she said.

BU head coach Lee Carter agreed.

“Our serve and our block defence game go hand-in-hand. How well we play and do that has been our forté all year and if we can do a good job with that then we give ourselves an excellent opportunity,” he said. “If they find a way to find the holes, we need to find a way to clog them.”

And while the Bobcats are guaranteed a one-in-eight shot at winning a national championship, hosting the event from March 11 to 13 at the Healthy Living Centre, Carter admits his team has put pressure on itself to succeed in the playoffs.

“To win a quarter-final match will get us a better match-up at nationals and everybody knows that,” he said. “We know that there’s no easy first-round matches, but we can maybe avoid a Canada West team if we can win a quarter-final.”

First things first though, BU is focused on winning its first playoff match, and possibly series.

“We’re hoping that this is the year, but you never know. We’re quite confident. We’ve played them tough already this year,” Carter said. “While watching video they’re a better team, but so are we, so it should be a fun weekend series, a 4-5 matchup, so it will be close.

“There’s an upset every year, so it’s just a matter of who it is this year.”

The Bobcats hope they are the ones taking down a Canada West powerhouse this weekend.

LINE SHOTS: Brandon finished with an 8-5 road record UBC was 10-2 at home … Brandon was fourth with 1,219 digs; UBC was 12th with 1,020 … Led by McLennan’s 0.49 aces per set, the Bobcats finished third in Canada West with 2.17 aces per set; UBC was first averaging 2.35 … The T-Birds were second in total aces with 195; BU was right behind in third with 193 … The Bobcats finished fourth in total blocks with 195; UBC was sixth with 180 … Brandon averaged 2.19 blocks per set, also good enough for fourth in Canada West; UBC was fifth averaging 2.17.

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