The Sun Setter: Just like that, it’s over

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This article was published 15/03/2019 (2494 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

QUEBEC CITY — I’m still in the gym at Université Laval, hours after the Brandon University Bobcats swallowed one incredibly tough pill.

All the bleachers have been pushed in, and it’s set up for a local club volleyball practice. You wouldn’t be able to tell the place was packed with fans and a national men’s volleyball champion was crowned from a distance, though if you get close enough, you can still see the sweat, and maybe a few tears on the court.

I can’t help but think of how quickly a moment that was “everything” becomes a mere memory.

After the match, and a long heart-to-heart with his team in the locker room, Seth Friesen said, “Life goes on.”

Speaking from experience, it goes on pretty fast.

I lost two AAA high school provincial finals final seven years ago; both my volleyball and basketball seasons ended with a bitter taste for what was more or less the exact same group.

We were completely fine after the volleyball one, wearing silver medals proudly out of Neelin High School, but there wasn’t a dry eye in that locker room in Thompson when a basketball team we’d beaten five times that year won the one that mattered most.

Why so different?

It’s got nothing to do with the game, and everything to do with the people you play it with: That second family. For a whole bunch of Grade 12s, it was the last time we got to go into battle together.

Few remember every little detail of a match, no matter how big or small it is, but the relationships developed through those highs and lows are what lasts. When the final ball dropped to end Brandon’s season, not a single head was hanging. The team came together and stood proudly, shared a few comments that’ll stay between them and did one final cheer.

It might still sting, and for a while, but they’ll do something to take the edge off tonight, spend a day in Quebec City together Monday, then fly home and catch up on all the schoolwork approximately 17 of the 18 players didn’t do this week. Before long, the outcome of a single best-of-five match won’t matter.

It really is all about the journey, and what a journey it has been for this team. Four major conference awards, two national ones, the program’s second-ever conference banner, and a whole lot of wild moments at the Healthy Living Centre.

For everyone but James Weir and Brady Nault, it’s not the end of the road. Reece Dixon was already thinking about next season, his final one, that hopefully culminates with a national gold when the University of Manitoba hosts just a few hours from home.

Maybe, we’ll do this all again then.

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @thomasmfriesen

The Sun Setter: Inside the huddle

BY THOMAS FRIESEN

QUEBEC CITY — If you wanted to be a fly on the wall in the Brandon University Bobcats huddle before the fifth set of the U Sports semifinal, here’s the next best thing.

Its hard to explain the flurry of emotions wrapped up a decade of practise that lead up to a race to 15, to determine whether all those hours enduring bumps, bruises and sprains are enough to extend your season one more day.

For the Bobcats, it was a regrouping after watching two sets slide away — one not even close — to the University of Alberta Golden Bears.

Nobody was less nervous than the guys in that huddle.

“We were saying to each other, ‘This is why we play, for moments like this.’ A fifth set in a national semifinal: This is why we play sports,” Elliott Viles said after the Bobcats won the set 15-10. “When you’re in the moment, it’s a lot easier to keep your calm and composure.”

Fifth-year James Weir knew the wrong result would mean the end of his last chance at a national title. This was it, and he was nothing but pumped about it.

“If you said at the start of the year, you have one set to 15 to make the national final, we’d take that opportunity with two hands and run with it,” he said, echoing coach Grant Wilson’s message to the team in the huddle. “We’ve been a team that’s battled and grinded five-setters, pushed teams to the edge to get those victories.

“We found a way to live in the moment and forget about the last two sets.”

It’s just a game, right? The court is still 9-by-18 metres, the net is still eight feet high, and it’s the sport you live and breathe. To Viles, it really was that simple.

“You just wash away the rest of the match and just focus on a technical cue. Just watch the ball and go out and have confidence in yourself. You don’t shy away from the moment,” he said. “You look at it as 0-0 and a race to 15. Anything can happen, but we had faith in ourselves and kept saying, ‘We believe.’ We believe in each other and believe in ourselves.”

Reece Dixon needed the break and needed his teammates’ support and encouragement. They delivered. When you spend hundreds of hours at school, on the road and going to battle with someone, you get to know exactly how to encourage them.

“I wasn’t having my best game, but I was getting a lot of pats on the back from guys and I knew they believed in me to get them the ball in crunch time,” Dixon said. “My fifth set was my best set of the night.”

If you’re sweating back home, sitting on the edge of your Healthy Living Centre seat or hanging on every one of mine or the Bobcats tweets, rest assured, you’re a whole lot more nervous than the Bobcats. 

 They might not sleep much tonight, but come first serve at 3 p.m. (CDT), they’re just playing a game they love with their friends, one last time. No pressure.

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @thomasmfriesen

The Sun Setter: Laval gym is a madhouse

BY THOMAS FRIESEN

QUEBEC CITY — It’s loud enough in at Université Laval with the music blaring in between points. Not just during timeouts, but after every point, the music plays until the next serve is about to take flight. One stoppage it’s Metallica, the next 50 Cent, then Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” comes out of nowhere.

Add 3,000-plus proud Rouge et Or supporters into the gym and forget having a conversation with anyone close by. You know that goal siren they blare at some NHL arenas? That’s how they start Laval’s hitting warmup. It’s followed by heavy metal cranked louder than most rock concerts. 

It’s great to see such passionate support for university athletics, unless you’re the one on the other side of the net.

“We’ve played in front of a full crowd at home, and twice as loud as our home crowd would be absolutely insane,” Brandon’s Seth Friesen said during Laval’s match against Queen’s. “It is absolutely insane, and that’s just the quarterfinals.

“We don’t get to pick who we play, but it’s definitely in the back of your head that you’re going to have to compete against the crowd and the team you’re playing.”

While there may not be as many of them, an impressive cohort of Bobcats friends and families made the trip from Brandon, Edmonton and even as far as Australia in Michele Viles’ case.

“We’ve got great fans, they’ve got great fans, and it’s really great to see the community come out, wherever you’re playing,” Friesen said.

Former Bobcat Matt Powell made the eight-hour drive from Brantford, Ont. After playing at BU for three years, he couldn’t miss this weekend. 

“It’s like being a part of a big family, so I wanted to make sure I came out and supported the guys,” Powell said after Brandon’s victory. “They’re a lot of really close friends for me, and the coaching staff has been so great to me for a long time, so it’s a no-brainer.

“With some of them, it feels like it was yesterday. Being in the gym with them, watching them play, it feels like I’m still a part of the program.”

The rest of the Bobcats coaches and staff finally made it here tonight with a wild story.

They had a flight cancelled because someone pulled a fire alarm at the pilot’s hotel — meaning the pilot didn’t get adequate rest. (I wrote eight stories on about as many hours sleep combined over two nights this week, but apples and oranges, I guess.)

So they caught a different flight to Thunder Bay, slept an hour or two and headed back to the airport. Brendan White and company slid onto the bench as the match started, like it was the plan all along.

As far as the volleyball goes, Canada West is proving its dominance. Three of four teams from the conference are through to the semifinals.

Brandon did exactly what the top seed is supposed to do: Come out hot with a near .700 hitting percentage in the first set and snuff out any hopes of a Cinderella story.

Alberta came into the week fresh after two weeks off since being upset by Thompson Rivers, and swept Mount Royal. Many believe the Golden Bears don’t deserve to be here, and it’s up to the Bobcats to make sure they aren’t around for the national final on Sunday afternoon.

On the other side of the draw Trinity Western beat McMaster for the fifth year in a row — not always in a quarterfinal — at nationals. The Spartans meet the Rouge et Or, snuck out with a five-set win over Queen’s.

What a night. The bar has been set nice and high for 2021 nationals in the Wheat City — I don’t want to miss that.

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @thomasmfriesen

The Sun Setter: Day Two

BY THOMAS FRIESEN

QUEBEC CITY — There’s a whole lot of calm before the U Sports storm.

Maybe too much. The Brandon University Bobcats have been in Quebec City for two full days now, and are laying low until their national men’s volleyball championship run kicks off at noon (CDT) on Friday.

Thursday morning featured the all-Canadian awards banquet, where the Bobcats claimed two of the four national awards. The team had an early practice followed by a film session, then had a whole afternoon and evening to kill.

“Definitely a lot of downtime, but we mostly just watch volleyball, don’t overthink anything too much and try to stay calm and loose. It’d definitely different, though,” middle Mason Metcalf said.

There’s only so much tape a team can watch, well, other than coach Grant Wilson, who was named coach of the year and very well could be breaking down the Université de Montreal Carabins as you’re reading this.

I sat in on the video session, and when his players say he puts in a lot of work behind the scenes, they mean it. Wilson has every opposing attacker’s favourite shots figured out, a few subtle tendencies for each of his guys to watch for, and key to stopping Montreal in all six rotations.

Failing to prepare, is preparing to fail.

Still, there’s no shortage of down time, considering BU normally travels the day before a match, hits the court the morning of, and kicks off a weekend series a few hours later. Usually that doesn’t leave a lot of time to study, and while there’s definitely enough time to hit the books this weekend, the consensus is that fourth-year outside Seth Friesen — a finalist for the Dr. Dale Iwanoczko student-athlete community service award — is the only one doing so.

To be fair, it’s hard to focus on anything with the biggest matches of the players’ lives fast approaching.

“It’s weird to have a couple of days like that and not have a game,” Metcalf said. “We play (early afternoon) on Friday and we don’t normally do that, but we’re pretty excited to get to that moment.”

The community back home is behind the team. At BU’s last practice at the Healthy Living Centre on Monday, Kit Harrison of Sutton Harrison Realty brought over a cheque to cover the cost of Wednesday evening’s dinner.

Harrison spoke to the team about his nationals experience: He played for the Bobcats men’s hockey team in the 1980s and still looks back fondly on his time, even though it didn’t end as well as the team planned.

“You go in ranked number one, everybody’s going to play above their normal game to try to beat you, so you got to be really ready,” Harrison said. “We had an unbelievably talented team, went to nationals and had a great year. Today, it’s a very positive experience in my life and I hope these guys can do their best and come back with whatever they earn.”

Harrison had a blast following the Bobcats through the playoffs and felt he wanted to help them go as far as they can this weekend.

“It’s just a token for the entertainment they give us. They work very hard, and we’re letting know we’re behind them the whole way and we wish them well,” Harrison said.

His contribution came in the form of a Boston Pizza dinner, where most of the team “carb-loaded” on pasta. I’ll leave it up to the experts to say whether or not that makes a difference less than 20 hours before a match — or if it makes any impact in volleyball at all for that matter.

But hey, the team’s clearly done something right all year to get here, so why change now?

I digress. The team has been grateful to the Brandon community all year, and is feeling the love a few thousand kilometres from home.

“It’s super cool, to have anybody offer anything, we’re very gracious. For them to be able to offer a meal to us, it’s really nice,” Metcalf said after the meal, at which Friesen got an “early birthday present” for dessert, on the house. (It wasn’t his idea.)

A fun fact about the Bobcats: They have a cell-phone free policy at team meals. Anyone who gets caught texting has to pay a $10 fine, and it’s fantastic.

By Friday night, only four teams will still be in the running for a national crown. I’ll let you know if BU is one of them.

 

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com

 » Twitter: @thomasmfriesen

 

 

 

The Sun Setter: Day One

BY THOMAS FRIESEN

QUEBEC CITY — We’re trying something new at The Brandon Sun.

After catching a red-eye flight to Quebec City Wednesday morning, I caught up with the Brandon University Bobcats men’s volleyball team and headed over to Université Laval — the site of the U Sports national championship.

Every evening for the next five days, I’m sharing a behind-the-scenes look at the No. 1 ranked team in the country as it competes for its first-ever national volleyball title.

There’s a lot more to it than showing up to practice a few times a week and putting on a show for the Healthy Living Centre crowds, of course. This week, all the Bobcats took on a 15-hour travel day Tuesday, complete with two bus rides and a pair of connecting flights.

“Got a good night’s sleep, slept in this morning and good to get on the floor after a rest day (Tuesday),” fourth-year outside Seth Friesen said after practice Wednesday afternoon. “We’re still kind of getting into the rhythm of it, seeing other teams at the hotel.

“It seems real, I’m excited and looking forward to getting to play Montreal Friday.”

The session itself wasn’t an intense one — few practices are after a gruelling six months, 22-match Canada West regular-season schedule plus playoffs. It’s an opportunity for servers and passers to feel out the space and especially for setters to get familiar with what they see when they look to the ceiling. Setter Reece Dixon likes Laval’s new gymnasium. It was built in 2014, the year after BU qualified for nationals, losing to the host Rouge et Or in the semifinal en route to a bronze medal.

“It felt good to get back in that gym,” said Dixon after his hometown University of Alberta Golden Bears took over the court for their session. “Being there once I had to look at everything and figure out where the lights were, but it’s good to get back and touch the ball in that space.”

The Golden Bears are somewhat lucky to be here in the first place, and they know it. After losing in the conference quarterfinals to Thompson Rivers, they snuck in as one of two at-large berths, thanks to the Volleyball Ranking System. Alberta head coach Brock Davidiuk is grateful for the second chance, and told me his team is rested and ready to go after a few weeks off.

In a way, this week could be like the Canadian Hockey League’s Memorial Cup for the Golden Bears, where the host comes in against league champions and makes noise because it’s had time to recover. BU could meet the U of A in the semifinal.

Anyway, I mentioned all the Bobcats are here. That’s right. Not just the 12 who normally travel, and not the 14 who regularly dress. All 18 players, all the assistant coaches, and a handful of athletics department staff made the trip. It’s a move certainly not all the schools make, but one that’s important to athletic director Russ Paddock and the university.

“You try to have the whole group buy into having a role on the team. Even for the guys who aren’t on the roster, they’re still a valuable member of the team in pushing their teammates in practice. We feel it’s important to recognize that,” Paddock said at the HLC on Monday.

“You can’t do that during the regular season. Whether it’s creating more of a home environment, having that extra bit of familiarity with people around you, any advantage you can get is good.”

After practice, the team headed to a film session, to break down their quarterfinal opponent: the Montreal Carabins. More on that team in Friday’s paper, but I spent my layover breaking down the team’s five-set conference-final loss to Laval and it’ll be an exciting one to watch.

Everyone’s up early for the all-Canadian awards banquet at 6:30 a.m. (CDT). Given BU has been the top team in the country for a few months now, I’d be surprised if the Bobcats don’t reel in a national award or two.

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @thomasmfriesen