FIVE-SET STUNNER: Brandon downs Saskatchewan to reach national men’s volleyball final

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/03/2025 (208 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There’s one word painted on the Brandon University Bobcats locker room wall.

If you’ve watched the show “Ted Lasso,” you’ll recognize it.

In blue lettering against a yellow backdrop, it reads, “BELIEVE.”

Down two sets to a seemingly unstoppable Saskatchewan Huskies team, that’s what Brandon did.

The Bobcats incredibly fought back to win their U Sports men’s volleyball semifinal 3-2 (21-25, 20-25, 25-23, 25-15, 15-10) at the Healthy Living Centre on Saturday.

“Our first meeting of the year we said ‘Believe, no matter what,’” said third-year Liam Pauls, who tied for a match-high 18 kills.

“We could have been down 19-10 in the third set, it didn’t matter. We believed. Having, I wouldn’t say delusional but insane optimism just led us to always believe, always trust ourselves. We were gutsy in that third set, and the fourth and fifth. It worked out.”

Bobcats head coach Grant Wilson hardly reacted to his team’s points all night, even as it neared the final one. But he couldn’t hold back tears when Tom Friesen blasted his 10th kill off hands and out of play to seal it.

“It feels great, probably felt fortunate. They’re such a good team and our start was, I don’t even know how to describe it, not very good,” Wilson said.

“Guys kept hammering away and believing and next thing you know we’re in a fifth set and as you know, anything can happen.”

Wilson’s assessment of the early stages of the match was accurate.

The Huskies targeted BU libero Sam Chen in serve receive early and it worked as he sent setter JJ Love scrambling four times in a row during a six-point run to put the visitors up 8-4.

Brandon sided out well but missed a bundle of serves into the net to let Saskatchewan off the hook and stay up 18-14.

On the other side, the Huskies served hard and would have missed a few more but the Bobcats weren’t willing to risk an ace and played them.

To be fair, the Huskies were terrific with their first touch the rare time BU put one in, seldom needing more than three contacts to take the ball back.
Brandon only scored two points in a row twice all set until it was 23-20 and Isaiah Mamer blasted an attack wide.

The Huskies closed it out two points later to go up 1-0.

The best way to avoid missing serves is to let the other team serve, and the Bobcats did a good job of it early in the second set.

Jefferson Morrow picked up four kills as his team went ahead 8-4, including an early four-point run.

Two bad BU touches led to Lucas Musschoot kills, making it 10-4 before Brandon showed a sign of life.

It came with a thundering Liam Pauls kill, then a massive Phillipp Lauter block after the all-star German didn’t record a point in the first set.

But Saskatchewan snapped back fast and completely prevented three-point runs for the second straight set.

It was an offensive clinic from setter Noah Opseth and the Huskies offence, racking up 15 kills and four errors to hit .306 while the Bobcats went 10 and five for .172.

While the Bobcats piled up service errors, Wilson didn’t tell them to ease up.

“Never. Go with what you know, do what you do best. We’re not going to beat this team putting in lollipops,” Wilson said.

“Guys started to get some rhythm as it went and I thought definitely by the fifth set we were serving with good pressure.”

Wilson put Chris Bryant in the middle for Riley Brunet late in the second set and kept him there for the third. He certainly stepped up.

“Grant and our coaches and teammates have prepared us all year for these moments, to treat every game like it’s the biggest of our career,” Bryant said. “So when we’re called upon, we’re ready to go. I’d like to say we all did that really well tonight.”

He started it with a big block on Baird and an ace a few points later. Bryant knocked an overbump down to the court to put BU up 9-8, then another ace to make it 13-11.

“I thought he was the game-changer,” Wilson said. “He came in and put them under pressure with his serve and his block touches were phenomenal. He scored a couple of times. He did everything he needed to do to be successful for himself and for our team.”

Up 16-13, Lauter nearly scored on a scrappy, borderline Huskies save leading to a Morrow kill. But unlike the early-season Bobcats who dwelled on such points, they replied with two big kills from Lauter and Riley Grusing to make it 18-14.

Musschoot aced Chen to cut the lead to 19-18 before Grusing scored off hands to stop the bleeding, before a few back-and-forth points into the 20s.

Kale Fisher stepped in a served BU on a massive three-point run to lead 24-21, and three points later, the Bobcats extended the match on a lengthy rally full of tough decisions for the officials.

“The crowd pushed us through the third set,” Wilson said “Even though we were down two and it was really close, tight at the end, you could just feel the energy from the crowd on the court so kudos to them for coming out and pushing us to the finish line.”

With a little confidence, the Bobcats realized they could swing away with little risk against the smaller Huskie outside blockers.

Pauls led the Bobcats to a 5-1 lead, then made it 7-2 on a blistering back-row ball.

Lauter canned Baird, then after Huskies coach Sean McKay’s second timeout, Grusing tipped down his 14th kill to lead 13-6.

The Bobcats were content to trade kills from there, tossing in a few blocks to pad their lead and send it to the fifth set.

Brandon, incredibly, went for 16 kills and not a single error in the frame.
“You do whatever you’re best at,” Pauls said. “I’m best at hitting the ball hard sometimes so I keep hitting the ball hard. Guys have their own skill sets and whether it’s 20-20 or 5-5, you gotta know your game.

“That’s what it came down to in crunch time, trusting your game and early trusting your game so we could create leads.”

Every Bobcat got in on the action early in the fifth.

Lauter stuffed Mamer. Bryant got an ace.

Pauls scored cross-court, and libero Michael Flor made a gritty save to set up a Grusing kill for a 5-2 lead.

After two Huskie points, Friesen scored cross-court, then stuffed Graham to get up 7-4.

Pauls tacked on a few kills and the Bobcats blocked the lights out from there, maintaining at least a three-point lead the entire time after 10.

The Bobcats face the winner of the nightcap between the third-seed Alberta Golden Bears, who beat the Sherbrooke Vert et Or 3-2 on Saturday night.

“They’re the defending champs, they’re here for a reason,” Wilson said. “They’re an extremely skilled, physical team, well coached, they have it all, national team guys, et cetera.

“It’s a massive challenge for us but we’ve shown when we play well we can rise to the challenge and that’ll be the plan.”

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com

» Instagram: @thomasfriesen5