Brandon struggled with tough first-half slate

If all you look at is wins and losses, the Brandon University Bobcats appeared to have a night-and-day turnaround a few weeks ago.

But they wouldn’t have made the breakthrough they did on the penultimate night of the first semester, beating the UBC Okanagan Heat in five sets, had it not been for the steps they took along the way to get comfortable in intense matches.

The BU women’s volleyball team still has a tough road ahead thanks to a 1-9 start to the Canada West season.

However, the Bobcats feel they’re on the right path, especially since former conference rookie of the year Maddy Hettinga joined the program for the last four matches and led Brandon to its first win.

“We kind of built momentum towards the end. Obviously, the last two games were our best,” said head coach Kailan Robinson.

“We struggled with injuries and finding our groove, so finishing well against UBCO, the big difference you saw was Maddy coming into the lineup and making a difference.”

LOOKING BACK

The Bobcats played the busiest pre-season schedule they have had in years.

They hosted the Briercrest Clippers for a few games, and travelled to Minot State, Winnipeg and Ottawa/Montreal.

In theory, they should have been more ready for the important matches. But Robinson said it was still valuable to figure out her lineup and get younger players experience.

Brandon won just two sets in its first eight matches, being swept by UBC and Saskatchewan twice each on the road, while losing 3-0 and 3-1 to both Mount Royal and Manitoba at home.

Taking a set off the defending national champion Bisons fired the Bobcats up for the Heat weekend, when they came back and stole a 3-2 victory before falling in another wild five-set match the following night.

“We struggled with managing the pressure of that situation, in terms of believing we could actually win or believing we could be in that situation, then putting so much pressure on ourselves to actually win that we were making errors in those last five points,” Robinson said.

“After that U of M game, we were like, ‘We’re in this.’ We believe we belong here, we can finish games, we believe we deserve the wins.”

THE LINEUP

Fifth-year setter Carly Thomson knew she’d play close to 100 per cent of the points this season with Alex Roberge recovering from a torn ACL.

She also took on a co-captain role and had to figure out what the offence would look like without outside Avery Burgar to feed for 580 attempts like last year.

BU’s offence certainly struggled early and it closed the semester at a league-low .119 hitting percentage.

But Thomson played her four best matches in the last four, averaging 37 assists per match over that stretch.

“It comes from having those attackers around her who are finally scoring. When she worked so hard to try to do what she could and we weren’t scoring, I imagine she felt defeated all the time,” Robinson said. “To have a team that is lifting her up, finally, and she’s able to play more freely and play her best, she’s doing really, really well this year.”

Thomson also leads all setters in kills with 42, even though opposing coaches constantly harp on their defenders to anticipate the Grande Prairie, Alta., product’s dumps.

That has opened up the floor for middle blocker Nerissa Dyer’s best stretch of her career. The fourth-year from Barbados averaged 13 points per game over the past four matches, including two nights she hit well over .500 to bring her season average up to .241.

“She’s undiggable. I don’t know how to describe it. Her offence has obviously been really, really efficient, but she’s also really good as a blocker,” Robinson said.

“We do a lot of read blocking on our team, we don’t often commit unless it’s super obvious … and she’s been really good at reading.

“Serving, digging, all around, her game has been incredible.”

Megan Pickford missed that stretch as Alexa Parken stepped into the lineup, but the Penticton, B.C., product should be back for the second half.

PASSING GRADES

The Bobcats have one Canada West leader at the midway point of the season.

Hometown libero Brooklyn Pratt sits first with 3.67 digs per set while the team is ninth overall at 12.89 per set.

Robinson said this is the most confident version of Pratt she’s seen, as the fourth-year libero has taken control of the back row both on defence and in serve receive.

However, the Bobcats do need to clean up their passing game as Pratt and Steph Miller are packing an unfortunate 1-2 punch as the most-aced players at 30 and 27, respectively.

But considering the outside hitter situation was tumultuous at best entering the year, Robinson is more than content with how it has shaped up.

When the season started, the team had Georgia Johnson with a torn biceps tendon, Miller coming back after nearly seven years away from the league and five-foot-six rookie Brynn Wildeboer as its three options.

But Robinson said Miller emerged as a solid second outside, known as the P2.

“Steph has worked really, really hard on variety in her offence,” Robinson said.

“She also has the best energy on the floor. If you see her play, she’s got this competitive fire, this spirit, she’s so grateful to be here and you can tell she belongs on the floor.”

With Hettinga proving she can handle the P1 load, Brandon’s biggest weakness might suddenly be a strength.

“Having Maddy finally join our roster by Manitoba was the missing piece of the puzzle that we really needed,” Robinson said.

MOVING FORWARD

The Bobcats return to action on Dec. 28-30 at the Wesmen Classic in Winnipeg.

They are back to regular-season play at Fraser Valley on Jan. 9-10. After that, they face the Trinity Western Spartans at home on Jan. 16-17.

BU has an unusually early senior night the following weekend as the women host the Regina Cougars on Jan. 23-24.

They are off the weekend after, then have back-to-back road trips to MacEwan (Feb. 6-7) and Winnipeg (Feb. 13-14) to close out the season.

BU’s last three doubleheaders are against the other teams fighting for the last few playoff spots, so even with just one win right now, their playoff hopes are far from over.

“I don’t think anyone should count us out until the very last game of the season,” Robinson said. “We’re so close now with where we’re at.”

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com