Bobcats fall to Dinos, miss nationals

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This article was published 19/03/2022 (1457 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Brandon University Bobcats’ near-Cinderella run to nationals is over.

A team with almost no Canada West men’s volleyball starting experience reached the final four, needing just one victory to reach the U Sports championship. But the Calgary Dinos came out hot and swept them 3-0 (25-16, 30-28, 25-23) in the bronze-medal match on Saturday in Langley B.C.

Setter Jake Fleming put up 29 assists and 10 digs while libero Liam Nohr added three digs in their final matches as Bobcats.

“We found our footing after that first set,” Fleming said. “Both teams were super well matched, it just came down to a couple of points and they just happened not to fall our way but we showed our compete in the second and third and I’m definitely really proud of that.”

Brandon entered the 2021-22 campaign ranked seventh in the pre-season coaches poll and certainly wasn’t expected to reach the semifinals. It didn’t have a single starter from its 2019-20 run, which also featured a semifinal loss to the host Trinity Western Spartans.

“It speaks volumes to the program,” Fleming said.

“Every year this team will be in contention and no matter who’s on the roster we’re focused on getting better every single day and every single practice. We turned a lot of heads and proved a lot of people wrong that wrote us off.”

Paycen Warkentin started in place of middle blocker Bryston Keck and picked up a few early kills the first set was tied 8-8. But then Philipp Lauter committed back-to-back errors and Hamish Hazelden went on a five-point serving run with two aces to pull ahead 16-10.

Hazelden then racked up three back-row kills to push Calgary to 19. The Bobcats were in no position to come back. Rookie left side Erik Godwin chipped in three kills to help close out a dominant opening frame. Calgary had 15 kills and just two errors while Brandon put up 10 and seven.

Calgary edged ahead 12-10 in the second set before Joao Cunha took off on a run. The Brazilian hammered two kills from the right side, then stuffed left side Parker Siroishka. He snuck to the other side and canned Hazelden the following point. Cunha cracked another cross-court kill to go up 16-13.

The Dinos tied it up on a 4-1 run, however, and it stayed knotted up 20-20. From there, Watt ripped a kill off the block and out by inches, then Lauter came up with two massive stuffs on Hazelden and his countryman Louis Kunstmann to lead 23-20.

Cunha gave the next point away by reaching over the net, then Watt hit a ball out and Brandon touched the net on a block attempt to bring it to 23-23.

They traded points to 25-25 before Hazelden committed a back-row violation to put BU up 26-25 … or so everyone except the officials and scorekeepers thought.

Bobcats coach Grant Wilson officially protested and the officials spent 15 minutes trying to figure out the painfully obvious before correctly putting Brandon back ahead.

Calgary middles Lincoln Baines and Kunstmann staved off a pair of set points with tips out of the middle, then Warkentin sailed a serve out the back and Watt misfired on an attack to put Calgary up 2-0.

“It was a pretty pivotal point of the game obviously and when we figured out something was wrong, tempers really flared on our side,” Fleming said of the stoppage. “We’re a pretty emotional group so it definitely took us a couple of minutes to reel it back in. It definitely killed our momentum but we’re not ones to blame the game on any mistakes.

“… We had a lot of good opportunities to put the game away after that pause in the second set but it’s unfortunate and sometimes the way it goes.”

The Bobcats led 11-9 in the third before surrendering a devastating five-point run powered by Baines. The middle had two kills and three blocks, forcing a Grant Wilson timeout at 14-11.

Watt picked up three kills as Brandon narrowed the gap to one but served into the net to put Calgary up 20-18. Baines stuffed Lauter for his sixth error of the night, then picked up a kill and blocked Warkentin to get to 23-19.

Cunha blasted his team-high 10th kill out of the timeout, then Warkentin blocked Baines before Erik Godwin scored off hands to bring up match point.

Brook lobbed a serve in after a timeout at 24-23 and Kunstmann blasted a quick set home after a perfect pass.

“They’re a really great team and were going to push us in every aspect,” Fleming said. “I feel like we battled hard and after that first set we picked up a lot more digs and our block was working a lot better. I definitely don’t have any regrets in those second and third sets with how we played.”

Hazelden had a match-high 16 kills as Calgary hit .281 to Brandon’s .099. Baines finished with 10 kills and seven blocks.

The top-ranked Spartans beat the No. 3 Alberta Golden Bears in four sets to capture the conference crown.

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