Baraniuk, Bobcats bounce Griffins 3-0

Ethan Baraniuk has fully made the leap from rookie to veteran.

The second-year outside hitter carved up the MacEwan University Griffins to the tune of 10 kills, three aces and three blocks to lead all scorers with 14 1/2 points as the Brandon University Bobcats swept their Canada West men’s volleyball home opener 3-0 (25-16, 25-15, 25-13) at the Healthy Living Centre on Friday night.

While the Griffins entered the season at the bottom of the Canada West coaches’ poll, the Bobcats didn’t take them lightly.

“We have the mentality that no matter who we’re playing … that we’re going to play our best game,” Baraniuk said.

“Whether it’s the worst team in the league, the best team in the league, we’re always going to have the same mentality going into every game.”

The first set was close to the midway point, but the Bobcats took over when Baraniuk picked up a pair of kills on a five-point BU run to lead 21-14.

The second took a massive defensive effort as Liam Kindle chased a ball down near the bleachers, then Cooper Bevan dug a hard cross-court blast before Baraniuk put it away.

The second year was blocked twice in a row to end the run, but setter Kale Fisher went right back to him for a kill.

Baraniuk then ripped three aces in a row to put Brandon up 1-0.

“I was so encouraged,” Baraniuk said. “Our whole team was battling mentally, physically … I had so much encouragement to put a ball in there, keep us alive and win the set.”

The Bobcats trailed 7-5 in the second set until middle blocker Matt Siebenga stepped back to the service line and poured the pressure on MacEwan’s passers.

Setter Kenneth And was left scrambling and Mason Lange hammered two back-row attacks during a nine-point Bobcat run to lead 14-7.

Siebenga went right back to work when he returned to the front row, with a huge block and a kill to make it 21-12. He added another rejection to bring up set point, and MacEwan missed a serve two points later to make it 2-0.

It was all Bobcats in the third, with the usual suspects, Baraniuk and Siebenga, doing the damage early and Lange heating up afterwards.

MacEwan simply didn’t build a block big enough to stop any shot Brandon wanted to hit. The Bobcats led 14-7 and looked as comfortable as ever from there.

Lange and Baraniuk tore the cover off the ball from the front row, back row and service line as they extended the lead to 22-11.

Fisher ended it with an ace, sending the crowd of 1,012 home happy.

“Really electric. It was almost a full house in here, which is pretty awesome,” Baraniuk said. “So many fans, family, everything, it was absolutely amazing. I loved it.”

Kindle matched Baraniuk’s team-high 10 kills while Siebenga scored on all seven of his attempts and made match-highs of four blocks and four aces.

“Everyone, even people that were getting subbed in, were absolutely amazing,” Baraniuk said.

“Kindle was a beast from the right side; Mason was going crazy on the pipe (back-row) balls. Everyone contributed that night and it was just amazing.”

The Bobcats and Griffins meet again today at 6:45 p.m.

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com