GRADE-POINT ANECDOTES: Hogue helps Rustlers to No. 1 seed for nationals

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This article was published 07/03/2023 (1184 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Sarah Hogue is approaching the biggest week of her volleyball career with gratitude and perspective.

The Dauphin native and her Lakeland Rustlers are the No. 1 seed for the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association championship starting with today’s quarterfinal against the St. Boniface Les Rouges at 10 p.m. CT in Nanaimo, B.C.

“For the most part, we’re just trying to take everything in,” Hogue said before Tuesday’s tournament banquet.

“Just making sure we enjoy everything about the experience has been really important to us because we’ve done so much hard work to get here at all.

“… As a young Cats club volleyball player, I definitely didn’t think I’d get to this point in my career so it’s pretty cool.”

Hogue dreamed of playing post-secondary volleyball for years. She committed to regular two-hour drives to Brandon for Cats Volleyball Club practices from 16-and-under to 18U.

The five-foot-11 middle blocker joined the Rustlers, who are based in Lloydminster, Alta., in 2019. She redshirted that season, hindered by a bulging disc in her back.

She took a month off during the 2020-21 season of training to deal with it and eventually worked back up to game speed. Hogue’s training included a lot of basic back exercises and sometimes was limited to riding a stationary bike.

“Definitely as an athlete it feels like a step back,” Hogue said. “But for me, it was a step forward because I wouldn’t be where I am without that time.”

Where she is now is a whole lot further ahead than in 2020.

“Her development’s been great,” said Rustlers coach Austin Dyer.

“She came back and she looked like the player that I recruited out of high school … Her lateral movement, her ability to jump was way better.

“She’s a very, very bright kid, a student of the game. She studies our opponent, listens and is able to execute our systems and game plan very, very well. She’s been a real treat. She’s a great kid and she’s gotten way, way better.”

Hogue cracked the starting lineup in 2021-22 when one of two middle blocker spots opened up. She compiled 71 kills as Lakeland reached the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference final but fell 3-1 to Red Deer and didn’t get a wildcard for nationals.

The Rustlers left no doubt this season.

They swept the Brandon University Bobcats in one of two pre-season matches, falling to the U Sports school in five sets in the other.

They dropped a few other exhibition contests but once the season started, it was complete dominance.

Lakeland swept 18 of 19 regular-season matches, falling to Augustana in five sets for its lone loss on Nov. 26. It then swept Briercrest and Red Deer in the playoffs before obliterating Augustana 3-0 for gold. Only two of nine post-season sets were closer than 25-17.

“That’s absolutely the highlight of our season so far, being able to punch our ticket to nationals,” Hogue said. “We lost a really hard final last year and went home with silver so it was really important to all of us.”

Lakeland drew the top seed because host Vancouver Island University — the four-time defending national champ and last to win since Lakeland in 2017 — fell to Camosun in the PacWest final.

In the final top 15 of the season, the Rustlers were third behind the Mariners and Humber Hawks, who meet in the quarterfinal on Lakeland’s side of the draw.

Whoever makes it out of that match is likely going home with gold.

“We’re a top three, four team here for sure,” Dyer said. “We definitely have the opportunity to make some noise here if we play well. We can beat anybody. We just have to execute our game and we see what happens from there.”

Camosun and Holland square off on the other side of the draw, along with Edouard-Montpetit and Augustana.

Hogue is far from done after this weekend. While in her fourth year of school, she’s a second-year player due to the redshirt and COVID seasons. She can graduate in 2024 and plans to complete an education after-degree in 2026 to play out her five years.

“One of the important things is sticking it out in a program so I think with the age and experience we have on our team right now, we’ve really been able to build on the players we have and the team we have,” Hogue said.

“… This is my fourth year with the team and we have quite a few girls even older than me. It’s something a lot of us have been working for, for quite a few years so it’s really exciting to get to this point.”

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