BU MIDTERM: Strong start has Bobcats women’s volleyball in prime position

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This article was published 15/12/2021 (1572 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If you build wins, they will come.

The Brandon University Bobcats women’s volleyball team (4-2) is drawing a buzz for a good reason. They’re the one BU team with a Canada West record over .500, and they closed the semester with a weekend sweep of Manitoba (2-4), winning a five-setter on Nov. 17 in front of 810 fans, their biggest crowd for an evening match since the 2016 home opener.

(They had 1,500 for an afternoon match a few years back, but the stands were filled with school kids that didn’t exactly have a say in attending.)

The point is the Bobcats earned at least a split off every team they faced in the East Division and have their sights set not just on a playoff appearance in March but possibly home-court advantage for the first weekend. “I’m pretty content with where we’re at. We’re playing good volleyball in streaks. It’s just a matter of finding a way to make it a little more consistent but it was a fun first semester,” said head coach Lee Carter from Alberta, where he was taking in recruiting combines and club tournaments right after the semester ended.

“Young athletes are working really hard. (Rookie) Taryn (Hannah) did a great job coming in when Nicole (Ashauer) got hurt and it’s going to be fun seeing where we’re at when everyone’s healthy.”

We begin our BU midterm reports with a women’s volleyball team that already matched its win total from a forgettable 2019-20 (4-20).

 

VETERANS STEP UP

BU is built around a terrific senior trio in captain Rayvn Wiebe, setter Jamie Bain and libero Caitlin Le.

Bain is sixth in the conference at 8.6 assists per set, tied for third with 12 aces and is second among setters at 13 kills. Carter said the St. Albert, Alta., product is simply jumping higher and moving faster than past years, which allows her to make better touches on less-than-perfect passes.

Le, the standout fourth-year from Mississauga, Ont., is second at 4.04 digs per set and third with 101 total digs. She has 17 assists and has even scored twice, using her court vision to find holes in the opposing defence.

Le’s hitters will tell you they score better because of her ability to find gaps for them. She’s the best libero in the division and it’s not up for discussion. 

Wiebe notched 3.76 kills per set, good for second in Canada West while drawing a ton of attention from blockers. Her .204 hitting percentage — 18th in the conference — reflects that, and the fact that the fifth-year played most of the semester alongside four first- and second-year starters.

“Rayvn’s been great. I think two years ago she was playing at this level of volleyball, just around her we weren’t playing at the same level so we relied on her and teams were able to clamp down on her,” Carter said.

“The lessons she’s teaching our young players on how to be an elite volleyball player are phenomenal … We’re so grateful for everything that she’s doing right now.”

 

ROOKIE CROP

The Bobcats starting rotation was always going to include at least one rookie but required a second when Ashauer suffered a right ankle injury two days before the season opener against Saskatchewan (5-1).

Keely Anderson was already set to start on the right side, then Hannah found out with 48 hours’ notice she’d see the East’s top team in her first U Sports action.

Hannah put up a solid eight-kill, 13-dig line as the Bobcats upset the Huskies in four sets. She posted her career-high of 12 kills in a win over the Cougars the following weekend.

Anderson notched 12 kills in her debut but had a few quiet nights in Regina and gave way to Ashauer’s return against Manitoba a couple of weeks later.

Avery Burgar chipped in as a sub at both outside spots and started one match against the Bisons. 

Carter got all 18 players on the floor at some point in the six regular-season matches and will continue looking to the bench down the stretch towards the post-season, which the Bobcats are all but guaranteed to make at this point.

“The exciting thing about this season is we do play everybody a lot and it also allows us a lot of opportunities to get athletes in. Before, that split against Regina might have in the back of your head had you thinking ‘We’re already out of playoffs,’” Carter said.

“There’s less stress on winning every single set as there used to be in the past. It’s about getting better and better and better and that’s going to pay off for us in the end.”

 

WIN THE MIDDLE

Perhaps the biggest surprise for Brandon has been the middle game. It has just three middle blockers on the roster, only one of which, Brazilian import Kaoane Loch, spent much time playing the position in 2019-20.

Dardis took most of her reps as an outside hitter that season but stepped up in training camp and has impressed. She had a slow start with three kills and three errors in the opener. Since then, however, she tallied 37 kills and just seven errors with 18 blocks with a team-high .306 hitting percentage on the year.

Loch posted a career-high 13 kills against Regina on Nov. 12 but really found her groove in the sweep of Manitoba, putting up 14 kills and two mistakes on 25 attempts, adding 10 blocks on the weekend.

“With their success, it really makes it easier for the outsides to score because teams have to really respect our middle,” Carter said. “Danielle Dardis has been a huge impact player for us … Kao, we’ve known her pedigree, we knew what her potential was and it’s nice over the COVID break being able to focus on strength and conditioning. Just being able to become faster has really helped her. She’s happy, she’s saying, ‘I’m finally playing at the level I knew I could play at.’”

 

ROAD WARRIORS

The Bobcats play just four of their 10 remaining matches outside the friendly confines of the Healthy Living Centre.

After a tuneup tournament at Manitoba the first week of January, BU heads to Saskatoon on Jan. 14 and 15 to battle the Huskies for the top spot in the East.

Brandon has a pair of home-and-home weekends with Winnipeg, a road trip to Manitoba and a home finale against Regina on Feb. 25 and 26. Carter said the focus is on winning every match but notes it’s too early to tell what the best seed truly is come playoffs.

Since teams aren’t playing outside their divisions, 12 of Canada West’s 14 take part in a modified post-season. It features three pools hosted by the division winners, with the top two in each advancing to three-team groups the following weekend, then a final four after that. The winner of the East draws its fourth seed, the Central’s second and the West’s third, which right now would be the perennial powerhouse UBC Thunderbirds.

So in a strange way, the No. 2 seed might be best as it’d currently mean beating the 2-6 Calgary Dinos and 1-5 Fraser Valley Cascades to get out of the first round.

The focus must remain on improving as a group, though, and Carter feels BU is on a good track.

“We are built to have some success,” Carter said. “And if everything goes the way it should and COVID, the sicknesses and injuries and all that stay minimal, I think we got a shot at doing some fun stuff in March.”

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com

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