Calgary knocks Brandon out of playoff contention

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This article was published 03/02/2025 (322 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Georgia Johnson showed how patience can help a U Sports volleyball player on Saturday.

Unfortunately, the Brandon University Bobcats will need a whole lot of it as their Canada West playoff hopes are officially gone. The Calgary Dinos (6-12) completed a weekend sweep 3-0 (26-24, 25-18, 25-16) at the Healthy Living Centre to stay in the 10th and final playoff spot.

The Bobcats (2-14) can only tie them but would lose the tiebreaker on head-to-head results. So they’ll recognize captain Avery Burgar for senior night against Winnipeg this weekend, then close the season with a road trip to Thompson Rivers in Kamloops, B.C., and move on to 2025-26.

“I’m really excited, honestly, I think we have a great group coming in,” Johnson said. “Obviously really sad to see Avery and Kallie (Ball) go, especially since I’m close with them off the court but I think using this time we get with them and all of us younger players learning from them, I think we’re really excited for our future with the young team.”

Johnson grabbed a starting spot to open the regular season but struggled in the first semester and took a back seat to Ball. She came off the bench Saturday and provided a big spark to give BU a fighting chance.

The Athabasca, Alta., native kept her head up despite how the last two sets went.

“Anytime I get to play, I’m going to be grateful for it and make the best of the time I get. It’s just fun,” Johnson said.

“Even if it’s a hard loss and we’re down 25-15 or whatever the points are, it doesn’t matter. You just go out swinging and do the best you can.

“It’s totally different watching off the court and maybe you see things players on the court don’t see. If you can use that time, rather than sulk or be upset that you’re not on the court … then when you get to go in, you can prove yourself again.”

Calgary went up 6-1 early but Brandon fought back and brought it back to 8-7. The Bobcats went down again, seemingly out of it at 20-13 but calmly kept the ball in play and let the Dinos string some uncharacteristic errors together four points.

After a timeout, Johnson continued her serving run off the bench thanks to Burgar chipping the ball off hands and out of play twice. It was tied 20-20 before Calgary finally broke the streak.

It was still tied 23-23, and Johnson staved off one set point with a wicked line shot for a kill before the Dinos put the set away in extra points.

“I was super proud, that’s all I said after the first set,” said Bobcats interim head coach Kailan Robinson.

“That fight back was incredible. It gave us the energy to try to make a push in the second set. Something we’ve been working on getting better at is just not getting down on ourselves.”

Johnson put BU up 5-2 early with a pair of kills but made two errors on a five-point Calgary run to lead 12-8.

The Dinos extended the lead to 20-12 as the Bobcats continued firing the ball uncontrollably long, and this time traded kills en route to a 2-0 lead.

Brandon stuck around, keeping it tied 11-11 before one more back-breaking run of five to give Calgary breathing room to end the night as early as possible.

BU recorded 27 kills and 22 errors while Calgary had 37 and 13.

“We struggled with our hitting errors and our hitting efficiency, and that just goes to how good of a blocking and defending team Calgary is,” Robinson said.

Johnson finished with four kills and two errors, adding four digs. Points were hard to come by, as Burgar posted 10 kills and 11 errors to lead all hitters on both fronts.

Robinson was impressed with Johnson’s poise after a tough few months.

“Georgia has been so patient with herself,” Robinson said. “She struggled a little bit early on in the season and over Christmas with finding her confidence, finding her swing. I know her shoulders have been a bit of a problem but she was feeling good this weekend, she told me, ‘Coach, I’m ready to go if you need me.’

“She showed up for our team.”

Johnson wasn’t the only one to make the most of an opportunity. Jayde Hansen-Young got the start as BU’s passing libero and held her own against some strong servers.

“She was someone who the last two weekends has been passing really well,” Robinson said.

“She came in just for one rotation passing a 2.5 (out of three). She deserves a chance to play. She’s a player in our gym that has the energy, the competitive spirit, the fire, knows the game plan, she’s done nothing but prove she deserves to be on the floor.”

Brandon has four matches left, including a pair against a provincial rival that will feel anything but meaningless. But how Robinson approaches them with respect to her lineup remains to be seen.

“Preparing for Calgary, I wasn’t looking ahead,” Robinson said.

“It’s tough to know moving forward what our focus will be but I think we’re going to keep trying to prove ourselves and keep trying to win as many games as we can and see what happens.”

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