Big win showed potential for last-place BU

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/02/2025 (288 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

You can look at the giant gap between first and worst in a few different ways.

The 15-win difference between the Fraser Valley Cascades and the 2-18 Brandon University Bobcats is massive, no doubt. But one night at the Healthy Living Centre, they were neck and neck and the lowest-ranked team in Canada West women’s volleyball came out on top.

The stars misaligned on the other side and BU took advantage, knocking off one of the best teams in the country.

But it didn’t happen nearly often enough as the Bobcats entered the last four matches of the season with no mathematical chance of making a 10-team playoff bracket in a 14-team league.

“Overall, we did improve over the season, which was our goal to just get better and compete with as many teams as we could,” said interim head coach Kailan Robinson.

“The fact that teams around the league were respecting us and playing their best players against us was a good sign.”

PLAYING TOUGHER

Other teams playing their full starting lineup wasn’t always the case the previous year when Brandon went 1-23.

Bench players still had their way with the BU starters, until a few extra subs at UBC led to the hosts dropping a set and sending the big guns back out.

That sort of behaviour stopped as the Bobcats played most teams tougher this season. While they started slow, not winning a set for the first handful of weeks, they put together an impressive four-set win over the host Regina Cougars, then took the first set 25-7 the following day before falling 3-2.

And BU pushed more sets into the 20s than it did the previous year, though most of those went the other way in crunch time.

“There were a few games where we finally had a better hitting efficiency. We were getting key players like Avery (Burgar) to score, that really made a difference,” Robinson said.

“The games we don’t win, we barely hit over .100 or hit negative.”

THE LINEUP

Burgar was Thomson’s clear-cut go-to hitter, taking 579 swings and recording 180 kills, good for 2.7 per set.

The graduating senior had an incredibly tough job as she was also many teams’ go-to serving target. She wasn’t a full-time left side until midway through her U Sports career, so the lack of passing reps forced her to play catchup over the past few seasons.

But the Sylvan Lake, Alta., product took on every challenge in stride.

“We’ll miss Avery’s lead-by-example attitude,” Robinson said. “She was a captain on this team for the last two or three years, someone who always came in and worked hard no matter what. She didn’t complain, she exemplified what it meant to be a committed student-athlete and that’s going to be really hard to replace.

“She believed in our team, she worked hard even when we weren’t doing well. Those are the kinds of things we’ll miss from her.”

The other left side spot wasn’t so clear. Second-year Georgia Johnson took the job at first due to her offensive upside but was inconsistent both at the net and in serve receive, so Robinson turned to veteran Kallie Ball for 14 of 20 possible starts.

With Burgar and Ball leaving, Johnson will likely move back into the starting rotation next year while Robinson looks to transfers or possibly a second international to fill the other left side job.

The first import is Nerissa Dyer, who has steadily improved since she joined out of Barbados in 2022. Dyer finished third on the team with 89 kills as the most efficient attacker, hitting .240. She also posted a team-high 40 blocks.

“She’s the best blocker on our team by far, almost always closes,” Robinson said.

“We need her confidence. We need her to score more than she does. I was so excited for her this year, I thought she would go off on offence but she will get there next year.”

Megan Pickford started 15 matches as the second middle, with rookie Alexa Parken taking the other five.

Perhaps the biggest breakout on the team was right side Cassidy Hauta, who started all but one match and finished second on the team with 105 kills and a .143 hitting percentage.

While a few strong right sides have moved over to the left, like Burgar a few years ago and Rayvn Wiebe before her, Robinson isn’t as fond of the idea in Hauta’s case.

“The way her swing is with her shoulder, she can’t swing well on out-of-system balls from left side, but maybe she can work on it. And she can pass — she passed all weekend this past weekend,” Robinson said.

“It’s nice to have her on the right side as a big block. She touches really high, she’s a high jumper so that was partly why I kept her out there too.”

Thomson had her best season yet, averaging 6.21 assists per set while leading all setters in Canada West with 62 kills.

She shared the job with Alex Roberge for a few specific situations during the first semester but took all the reps after Roberge went down at practice during the semester break and tore ligaments in her knee.

Roberge had successful reconstructive surgery and has a chance to return in 2025-26, Thomson’s final season.

At libero, Brooklyn Pratt waited three years to get on the floor and another to take over the job.

As it stands, she’s on her way to holding the job for a few more.

“Brooklyn did a fantastic job this year, the first year she fully played,” Robinson said of the Brandon native.

“She did such a good job defensively, reading. In serve receive she kind of got picked on a bit but was steady.”

Jayde Hansen-Young worked in as the second libero on the rotation card at times and carved out a role as a defensive specialist for a few rotations as well. Rookie Eva Dooks showed she can do the same as a serving sub.

That position doesn’t need to be a recruiting priority for a while.

BY THE NUMBERS

The Bobcats’ goal was to become a more aggressive offensive team. In the end, they were still the weakest in the league, hitting .117.

They also blocked the fewest balls — just 81 while 13th place was 124 and Alberta led at 175 — and also made the fewest digs at 825, fewer than 12 per set.

They finished one win behind MacEwan (3-17), settling for last place while the two schools didn’t meet this season since Canada West shortened the schedule by four matches. That will change next season as the Bobcats avoid three different teams on their 20-match slate.

THE OFF-SEASON

Robinson isn’t sure exactly who’s sticking around for the summer but said there’s “high interest” around the team.

Roberge will stay to rehab her knee, while Thomson has been around the past few summers rather than returning to Grande Prairie, Alta.

Robinson expects most of the rookies from a few provinces over to head back but will certainly work with those around town to continue building into 2025-26, which she hopes to be back for.

Her interim tag has to be removed this off-season. Whether the nameplate on her office door is as well remains unknown.

BU could offer Robinson the permanent job or look elsewhere for someone to start after her contract ends in May.

For now, she’s focused on making sure the team’s in the best possible position whether or not she’s the one in the coach’s chair come September.

“Everyone’s really committed to being better next season and improving,” Robinson said.

“We just desperately want to do better so everyone will work hard this summer.”

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com

» Instagram: @thomasfriesen5