Friesen ices Cougars in 3-0 sweep
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Tom Friesen started his final home opener with a set that few volleyball players will ever come close to.
The rest of his night was damn good, too. The fifth-year outside hitter put up a match-high 15 kills and 19 points as the Brandon University Bobcats throttled the Mount Royal Cougars 3-0 (25-15, 25-20, 25-16) in their Canada West men’s volleyball home opener at the Healthy Living Centre on Friday.
“Everything was going my way,” Friesen said with a laugh.
Brandon setter Kale Fisher bump sets the ball against the Mount Royal Cougars during their Canada West men’s volleyball match on Friday. (Thomas Friesen/The Brandon Sun)
“I’d get the occasional mishit, and it would just work its way into the court somehow. Kale (Fisher) was setting really well and our middles were very effective out there, making their middles commit. That opened up opportunities for everyone else.”
The Bobcats’ recipe for success was simple early: Set Friesen.
He scored on four of his first five attempts, adding a solo block as BU (2-1) took a 13-8 lead, enticing MRU (4-1) coach Shawn Sky to burn his first timeout.
He took another breather down 18-12 following a Liam Pauls ace, and while the BU star missed his following serve, the Bobcats put the smaller Mount Royal lineup in too big a hole to block its way out of.
Liam Kindle and Matthew Siebenga made a huge block to bring up set point, and Friesen ripped an ace into the back corner of the court for his ninth point of the set.
BU had 12 kills without an error on 18 attempts in the frame.
The Bobcats mixed it up big time in the second set as Fisher fed Kindle and Siebenga for four and three kills, respectively, to race ahead by five again.
MRU trimmed a 15-10 deficit to 17-15, but let Pauls restore the big lead with his fifth ace of the night.
The Bobcats held that edge the rest of the way to a 2-0 lead.
The third set wasn’t even close for a moment. BU led 6-1 and never let it get within four. Its block defence was relentless and its passers were sharp, letting Fisher dish to whomever he wanted, whenever he wanted.
Bobcats coach Grant Wilson preaches being the better serving and passing team on any given night.
“We were both of those by far (Friday). Everything was clicking and that just leads to the offence working so much better,” Friesen said.
Kindle added seven kills for Brandon, while Ryan John led Mount Royal with 10 kills.
Brandon’s Tom Friesen serves against the Mount Royal Cougars during their Canada West men’s volleyball match on Friday. (Thomas Friesen/The Brandon Sun)
BU posted 37 kills and eight errors while MRU recorded 26 and 11.
The Bobcats served 12 aces while missing 15 times, and the Cougars managed just two aces with 14 mistakes.
The teams meet again today at 6:45 p.m., and Friesen doesn’t want to make any adjustments.
“Obviously you’re going to have a few miscellaneous errors but for the most part, we played really well,” he said.
“They’re a good team and obviously they didn’t play their best but … just do the same thing (today) and that should be good.”
BU BASKETBALL: The Bobcats women’s basketball team lost its first game of the season, 84-77 to the Lethbridge Pronghorns.
BU led 65-58 with nine minutes left but gave up a 17-2 run over a six-minute stretch to drop to 2-1 while Lethbridge improved to 1-2. Macaya Copeland dropped 29 points for BU … The men’s game ended after deadline. The teams meet again today.
» tfriesen@brandonsun.com
» Instagram: @thomasfriesen5