Similar team, bigger goals for BU women

The Brandon University Bobcats know it’s not about how they start but how they grow this year.

They’re being set up for a potentially demoralizing run of matches early in the Canada West women’s volleyball season.

However, both semesters end with favourable matchups. If they use the tough ones as building blocks, like opening weekend this Friday and Saturday against the host UBC Thunderbirds, they can compete for a playoff spot.

“We’re ready to go. We’ve played lots, we’re really comfortable with our style of play, our systems,” said Bobcats head coach Kailan Robinson.

“I’m really happy we got the opportunities to play a heavy pre-season because it did provide us with the time to really work through all the kinks and figure out who the best group might be to play.”

It’s Robinson’s third season at the helm and first since shedding the interim tag.

It’s also the first time she won’t have her clear-cut go-to attacker in outside hitter Avery Burgar, who signed with a professional team in Denmark.

Burgar and the other senior outside hitter Kallie Ball both graduated, but the rest of the starting lineup is intact.

Uncertainty in the off-season as to whether Robinson would return made recruiting a challenge, so there are just two new faces and one familiar one, Steph Miller, returning to the fold for 2025-26.

PRE-SEASON

The Bobcats took advantage of their busiest pre-season yet, playing tournaments in Minot, N.D., and Winnipeg before hosting a few exhibition matches, and travelling to Ottawa and Montreal last weekend.

While Brandon lost to some college programs, it played and won more close sets and matches than in the past few years, and gave Robinson a clear idea of who to start.

Last weekend, BU tied the University of Ottawa and McGill University 2-2 in four-set scrimmages, and lost 3-1 to the Université du Québec à Montréal.

“It was nice to face bigger teams,” Robinson said. “They have strong, heavy-hitting outsides, more of what we might face in our league compared to earlier in pre-season.

“We’re really happy with where our defence is right now, we’re just still working on the offence.”

THE LINEUP

Rookie outside hitter Brynn Wildeboer and Miller will compete for starting time as the second outside hitter behind Georgia Johnson.

For now, Robinson has her mind made up that the veteran will take the court this weekend.

“That is what I struggled with, that P2 spot,” Robinson said.

“Brynn and Steph both bring similar numbers to the team. They’re both strong passers, the strongest passers on the team, really. At the end of the day, I’ve decided Steph will be starting and it just comes from ability to apply game plan, ability to execute what we want.”

“I still expect Brynn to play lots and maybe even keep pushing to try to get a starting role at some point.”

The rest is fairly straightforward. Fifth-year Carly Thomson was the only setter on the team by the time her first regular season arrived in 2022-23, and she’s in a similar position now.

Alex Roberge is still recovering from a torn ACL suffered in training during the Christmas break last season, and will likely sit out the entire campaign.

Backup Grace Gallacher’s role will likely be limited to a few rotations per set in double substitutions, which the Bobcats used throughout the exhibition schedule.

Thomson averaged 6.15 assists per set last year but added nearly a kill per set — 62 in 68 sets — as one of the best offensive setters in the 14-team league.

That number might grow this year as BU searches for ways to replace Burgar’s scoring.

Senior libero Brooklyn Pratt is still commanding the back row, after recording 200 digs last year. Her 2.90 digs per set was good for eighth in the league.

Pratt also received a whopping 491 serves last year — third in Canada West — allowing a league-high 51 aces.

This year, more than the past two, there’s a premium on good passing for BU. That’s because middle blockers Nerissa Dyer and Megan Pickford will have to play a larger role in the offence without Burgar’s heavy arm to score on out-of-system balls.

To some degree, though, Robinson hopes Johnson carry a bigger load.

“Georgia’s in a groove right now to replace Avery in a similar fashion,” Robinson said.

“Georgia’s going to swing hard and swing tough, but I’d like to see Georgia hit more efficiently than Avery did, obviously, just have less errors.

“Nerissa and Megan are our most efficient attackers. They’re the two that have been hitting 16-20 per cent, which is what we want. We really want to stay in system … so we can get our middles the most volume.”

Dyer was Brandon’s most efficient attacker last season, posting 89 kills and 29 errors for a .241 hitting percentage. Pickford led the team with .60 blocks per set.

Cassidy Hauta rounds out the projected starting lineup at opposite. She finished second on the team with 107 kills and 61 errors last year, hitting .149.

Hauta’s competition consists of Shaunti Gill, who redshirted, then appeared in just one match as a middle blocker last year, and rookie Madison Steingart.

THE SCHEDULE

The Bobcats have an early bye after facing the T-Birds, then play their home openers Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 against the Mount Royal Cougars.

Brandon visits Saskatchewan the following weekend, then hosts the defending national champion Manitoba Bisons on Nov. 14-15. After another bye, it hosts UBC Okanagan on Nov. 28-29.

The Bobcats will take part in the Wesmen Classic in Winnipeg on Dec. 28-30, then resume regular season play in Abbotsford, B.C., against the Fraser Valley Cascades on Jan. 9-10.

They stay home for back-to-back weekends against Trinity Western on Jan. 16-17 and Regina on Jan. 23-24.

After that, BU visits MacEwan, takes a week off and closes at Winnipeg on Feb. 13-14.

GOALS

Those last three weekends are as winnable as they get for the Bobcats, who would love to crack the top 10 and earn their first post-season berth since 12 of the 14 teams made it in 2022.

There are enough winnable matches, however, the Bobcats simply have to improve in every facet of the game.

They ran the least efficient attack in the conference at .117, while also sitting last with 1.17 blocks per set, with the next-lowest team being Winnipeg at 1.69.

Brandon and Regina finished at the bottom of most significant stats.

BU went 2-18 last year, while Calgary earned the last playoff spot at 7-13.

“Our biggest goal is to win more games than the year before,” Robinson said.

“We want to win more games than last season but try to put ourselves in a position to push for a playoff spot. That really does mean getting closer to 6-8 wins.

“We need to be better at winning and closing out close games.”

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