BU learns lessons during tough start

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This article was published 21/12/2024 (271 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It took just one evening for a change in Canada West women’s volleyball to become clear.

The Regina Cougars swept the Saskatchewan Huskies on opening night, telling the league the gap between the bubble playoff teams and the bottom of the league is tightening.

The Brandon University Bobcats were off that weekend, watching and realizing if they played their best on the right nights, they too could join the playoff mix.

The following six weeks, however, were reminders that there are no easy matchups for them in Canada’s best conference.

BU hit the semester break at 1-9, 13th of 14, ahead of only the winless MacEwan Griffins.

THE SCHEDULE

The Bobcats went six matches without winning a set, though the opening stretch featured two tough teams in Trinity Western (5-5) and the defending Canada West champion Manitoba (6-4).

BU fell 3-0 twice to Saskatchewan (3-7), which sits one win outside the 10-team playoff picture.

The Bobcats won their first set of the season in Regina (4-8), then another, and one more to crack the win column 3-1. They dominated the Cougars 25-7 in the first set the next day but lost 3-2.

Brandon finished the semester with two 3-0 losses to Alberta (9-3).

“We could have played better, we could have been playing at a higher level. If that Sask game was our last game of the first half, I wonder what would happen,” said head coach Kailan Robinson.

“The girls are dedicated, they want to win now. Losing over time in the past, the girls just accepted loss and got used to losing, it was what it was. Now when we lose, even when it’s our last weekend against U of A … that still hurts because we were still playing so well, we can still win a set or win games.”

The Bobcats head to Calgary early for a few exhibition matches before resuming Canada West play at Mount Royal (5-5) on Jan. 9-10.

They enjoy a six-match home stand against Fraser Valley (9-1) on Jan. 24-25, Calgary (3-7) on Jan. 31-Feb. 1) and Winnipeg (5-5) on Feb. 7-8.

BU finishes at Thompson Rivers (8-2) on Feb. 14-15.

“We can push for one of those top 10 playoff spots because we have all those home game opportunities and also have teams like Mount Royal, Winnipeg, Calgary, teams who Regina has beat, and we’ve beat Regina,” Robinson said.

“There’s opportunities for us to get weekend splits or weekend sweeps if we’re playing the way we played when we got our win.”

THE LINEUP

Nothing particularly surprising took place when it came to Brandon’s lineup, though Carly Thomson may have shocked those who don’t pay super close attention.

Thomson led all setters in kills with 26, standing just five-foot-nine. The Grande Prairie, Alta., product started slow in her offensive game but added herself as an option during the win over Regina and posted six kills. She has 17 over her last four matches.

On the other hand, she sits 15th in the 14-team league at 6.25 assists per set, more than four back of Manitoba’s Katreena Bentley.

“Carly’s offence, her efficiency … when she’s on offence trying to score, she almost always does score,” Robinson said.

“I tell Carly, as often as she may not want to hear it, be a scorer, be part of the offence. She’s done such a good job of that and every team game plans for her to be an offensive threat.

“Every coach always compliments me on Carly.”

Thomson’s go-to hitter, as expected, was Avery Burgar, who amassed 77 kills and 48 errors on 251 attempts.

The senior from Sylvan Lake, Alta., is a point ender. She hits a heavy ball diggers seldom touch as it usually whizzes past them — but also flies over the lines and out of bounds.

Burgar would be an excellent second left side, an elite option as one of three in the front row. However, she’s in a tough spot playing two of her three front-row rotations with Thomson also at the net, allowing defences to send double blocks her way.

On the other hand, she’s Robinson’s best option to at least try to shoulder the most demanding workload in her offence.

Second-year left side Georgia Johnson shows the potential to be a steady scorer at times but inconsistency with 25 kills and 26 errors left her tough to start as Robinson turned to veteran Kallie Ball. The shorter but steadier senior posted 32 kills and 19 errors, playing a key role off the bench in BU’s victory and starting four matches.

“I started the season wanting her to be our P2 but you have to talk about our other left sides if you want to talk about Avery’s role,” Robinson said.

“Georgia was a little inconsistent, she was passing not well, her efficiency was in the negatives so then Kallie comes in and Kallie’s not scoring but she’s passing better, she’s more communicative on defence, so that leaves Avery our only left side that’s been putting the ball away. Because of that, she’s allowed to make more errors.

“It’s not ideal, it’s not what you would want, you would rather have less errors and another left side who’s scoring more but teams are going to camp out on her, they’re going to double block her because she has the most volume, she has the most kills and she is easier to block but she’s put in such a tough situation.”

The attention on Burgar has freed up right side Cassidy Hauta for a solid 48 kills and 26 errors for .162, and Nerissa Dyer for 44 and 14 and a .252 hitting percentage second only to Thomson among starters.

“Even though you maybe don’t see it as much in [Hauta], it shows in the numbers and the stats sheet. She’s our second most efficient attacker so she’s bringing in a tough offence, something where in the last few years have been left-side heavy,” Robinson said.

“We have a more spread offence so Avery can score more or whoever it is on left side. I think you have to give credit to Cass for that.”

The second middle blocker, Megan Pickford, has been quiet offensively with 30 kills and 21 errors but leads the team with 15 blocks and .58 blocks per set.

Brooklyn Pratt has settled in nicely as the lone libero in the lineup, leading the Bobcats with 89 digs.

She’s been targeted a massive 262 times in serve receive but only conceded 25 aces.

BY THE NUMBERS

The Bobcats rank 12th in Canada West in hitting percentage at .130, narrowly ahead of Regina (.129) and MacEwan (.125).

Robinson’s big goal for the offence was to score more points. They’ve slightly improved to 8.94 kills per set from 8.01 last year.

But they’re dead last in blocking, nearly half a block per set behind Winnipeg at 1.00, and second last in digs per set at 10.91.

Some of it is due to the trio of top-end teams they faced, but the Bobcats need to be more effective on offence and more frustrating for opponents on defence. Robinson hopes the lessons dominant programs taught them early will pay dividends in the new year.

“Us playing against Trinity, U of A, U of M was a tough first half but I think it really is preparing us for success in the second half,” she said.

“We definitely got better at learning how to score against big teams and just serving tough to try and get teams out of system.”

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