SCHMIDT SHOW: Spartans drop Bobcats

Outscoring an entire team in one set is outrageous.

Almost doing it again to end the match? Unthinkable, at this level, anyway.

But Kaden Schmidt had two of the best sets anyone has played this Canada West men’s volleyball season. The fourth-year outside hitter piled up a whopping 13 kills in the second set and nine in the fourth, leading the Trinity Western Spartans (11-2) to a 3-1 (25-16, 25-21, 15-25, 25-22) victory over the Brandon University Bobcats (5-8) at the Healthy Living Centre on Friday.

“I can’t complain. I love volume, so I’ll take all the sets I can get,” said Schmidt, who finished with a match-high 26 kills and just six errors.

“The pieces we have, Cory (Schoenherr), Jackson Corneil, and (setter) Anselm Rein being able to spread the offence and getting Cory and Corn some load puts pressure on opposing teams’ blockers. That frees me up a bit.”

Tom Friesen led BU with 12 kills and one error, with Liam Pauls recording 10 and four.

Ethan Baraniuk added four kills off the bench, playing all six sets in BU’s back-to-back sweeps of Fraser Valley (0-12) last weekend.

For a rookie opposite with a bright future at BU, facing TWU was an eye-opener.

“Definitely was uncomfortable, a little bit, coming in, but definitely something you’ve got to get used to. Playing against Fraser (Valley), getting in there a little bit is definitely nice,” Baraniuk said.

“It’s definitely different playing against such a high-level team. The film can only do so much, so it’s definitely being able to go over and make sure you’re in the right spot for different circumstances.”

The first set was close until Pauls stepped on the attack line on two consecutive back-row attacks, then Liam Kindle blasted a back-row attack long to go down 13-9.

Brandon needed to force a few mistakes on the other side but gave up an ace to Schoenherr, then Kindle made two more of his six hitting errors before head coach Grant Wilson subbed him out for Baraniuk, who Schoenherr immediately targeted and aced to lead 20-12.

Baraniuk bounced back with a kill, but the set was all but over.

The Bobcats narrowed the gap to five, then gave up four in a row on the lethal-serving Schmidt’s run to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

Friesen got the Bobcats going with a pair of clean back-row attacks in the second set. They stayed close with tougher serving than in the opening frame when they recorded just one ace while giving up four.

However, whenever it got close, Rein fed Schmidt, who piled up 10 kills in the first 30 points of the set to keep his team up 17-13.

He wasn’t done there, adding three more down the stretch.

The Bobcats made another late push, closing the gap from 23-16 to 23-20 on a string of Spartan errors, but Schmidt pushed TWU ahead 2-0 on his 13th kill of the frame.

Wilson went back to Kindle to start the second set, but turned to Baraniuk in the third, and the rookie delivered.

The former Vincent Massey Viking piled up three early kills while the Spartans made a few untimely errors to put the hosts up 11-4.

From there, the Bobcats’ block defence did its job, making a few stuffs and forcing the Spartans to roll the ball into the court for some routine transition plays that Brandon didn’t have many opportunities for earlier.

BU led 20-8 and cruised into the fourth set down 2-1 but alive.

Finally, the teams were in a tight battle, with Trinity Western up 15-14.

Schmidt cranked a back-row attack, then Willem Van Huizen tossed in a sneaky float serve that Pauls couldn’t handle. TWU added another point on a poor reception to lead 18-14.

While Schmidt had a quiet second set with just two kills and a bunch of tips and roll shots, he went back to blasting away, scoring the Spartans’ next four points to stay up 22-17.

A few points later, Schmidt put it away, spoiling the first half of the evening for the packed HLC crowd.

“Just sticking in our nine-by-nine (metre court) is the biggest thing,” Schmidt said. “They bring a loud crowd … they showed up, so that was pretty sweet. I think we did a good job of keeping the outside voices outside and keeping it in our nine-by-nine.”

TWU posted 48 kills and 19 errors, hitting .259. Brandon had 39 and 17 for .195. The Spartans posted eight aces to the Bobcats’ five.

BU led in the blocking department, 12-4.

The men play first again today, starting at 5 p.m., with the women to follow at 6:45.

Baraniuk has a simple plan if he’s back on the floor.

“Go in there and swing,” he said. “That’s been a big thing for me, is tipping too much and being too passive, so just being aggressive is definitely one thing that helps.”

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com