Siebenga, Bobcats set for home opener
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It’s not often the Brandon University Bobcats have to find two new pillars of their block defence at once.
It happened in 2015, when James Weir and Mason Metcalf started a four-year run as starting middle blockers that culminated with the 2019 Canada West men’s volleyball crown.
Following the lost 2020-21 season, BU turned to Philipp Lauter and a handful of second middles over the years, with Chris Bryant stepping up in time to help it win its first-ever national title in March.
Matthew Siebenga jumped into a starting role with the Brandon University men’s volleyball team this year. They face the Mount Royal Cougars in their home opener tonight. (Thomas Friesen/The Brandon Sun)
But both are gone, and now it’s up to Riley Brunet and Matthew Siebenga to take one giant step forward as Brandon (0-2) looks to get back to track with its home opener against Mount Royal University (4-0) today at the Healthy Living Centre at 7:45 p.m.
Siebenga played just one match last year. The second-year from Hamilton recorded the winning block that night but knows he has a long way to go.
“It’s a big change, but … you get adjusted to it because you get to play against two great middles last year in Chris and Phil,” Siebenga said at practice on Thursday.
“You got (Lauter) playing pro and he was a second-team all-Canadian. You get to practise against that every day. It sets you up pretty well and eases the transition going from on the bench to playing against these big guys.”
Head coach Grant Wilson is happy with what he’s seen so far from the tandem throughout the pre-season and two months of practices.
He has tried both of them as Middle 1 — the one that lines up beside the setter in the rotation, which makes offence tougher since the setter only has two front-row options — and isn’t sure which lineup works better just yet.
They both bring their strengths, with the fourth-year Brunet a few steps ahead in blocking.
“He reads the game pretty well and is more comfortable in those situations,” Wilson said.
“Matt’s pretty offensive. He’s a big jumper, he’s got a heavy shoulder, so it’s a matter of running his routes appropriately and having good connections with our setters. When he does, he can blast the ball pretty good.”
Brunet is also one of the best servers on the team. The six-foot-nine Alberta native can switch between spin and float serves, hitting both hard and accurately.
Meanwhile, Siebenga simply tears the cover off the ball with heavy spin serves.
“We focus on it a lot, having a good serve, being able to hit it consistently,” Siebenga said.
“Obviously, when I ramp it up, it can go good. But G talks about having it above 95 kilometres an hour and hitting it in 80 per cent of the time. If I can hit that, I’ll work it up from there.”
Libero Cooper Bevan dives to save a ball during practice on Thursday. (Thomas Friesen/The Brandon Sun)
This year, the Bobcats don’t just have to peak in March — they need to earn their place in every round of post-season volleyball.
It starts with the Canada West playoffs, which, as Mount Royal knows from last year, are not a given. The Cougars finished 12th out of 13 teams at 5-15 last year, with 10 qualifying for the post-season.
Brandon was sixth at 10-10 before falling 2-0 in a quarterfinal series at UBC.
While the Bobcats dropped a pair to the Thunderbirds in Vancouver two weeks ago, the Cougars were starting down a warpath. They swept the Thompson Rivers WolfPack to open the season, then knocked off a talented Saskatchewan Huskies squad twice in a row to sit tied atop the conference.
And coach Shawn Sky’s team isn’t just dominating in one area of the game. They’ve had six different players hit double-digits in kills over those matches.
“They’re a good team,” Siebenga said. “Obviously Canada West is a good league in total, but they have a good team, good setter, they like running it high.”
QUICK HITS: The Bobcats will unveil their 2025 U Sports championship banner before the match, which follows the 6 p.m., women’s match featuring a pair of 0-2 squads looking to bounce back … On Saturday, the women play at 5 p.m., with the men following at 6:45 p.m. … The BU basketball teams are in Lethbridge this weekend. The women (2-0) start today at 7 p.m. CDT, with the men (1-1) tipping off at 9 o’clock … Bobcat basketball returns to the HLC next weekend as the Calgary Dinos visit.
» tfriesen@brandonsun.com
» Instagram: @thomasfriesen5