BIG-GAME BRYNN: Rookie powers BU past TWU

Brynn Wildeboer just had the night of her volleyball life.

Taking on the Trinity Western Spartans, who lay claim to four of the last six Canada West women’s volleyball championships, the five-foot-six outside hitter from Ste. Rose was the unlikely hero the last-place Brandon University Bobcats needed to kickstart a playoff push.

Wildeboer more than doubled her career-high with 14 kills, including the match-winner, as the Bobcats (2-11) upset the Spartans (8-5) by a score of 3-1 (11-25, 25-23, 25-20, 29-27) at the Healthy Living Centre on Friday night.

“Never, never, never. This is the best,” Wildeboer said of whether any other match in her career tops it.

“I’m so excited. We worked really hard on our game plan, which shots were going to work and we just had to stick to it and keep pushing in those really tight moments.”

Wildeboer also made nine errors, but had to take some chances against a few big blockers. She added two aces and a block.

“I knew they were a really big block and I just knew I had to keep chipping away and be confident in myself and confident in my team,” Wildeboer said. “I know they’re going to cover me, and I know they’re always going to be there supporting me.”

The first set started well and couldn’t have finished worse.

Cassidy Hauta served back-to-back aces to put Brandon up 5-3, and it led 8-5 before the wheels came off in a hurry.

TWU pulled ahead 12-9 on five Brandon errors, then Isabella Stothard rattled off an 11-point serving run to run away with a 1-0 lead.

The Bobcats started strong in the second as setter Carly Thomson found middle blocker Nerissa Dyer for two early kills to lead 3-0.

With a little more attention on the middle, Wildeboer took advantage of some single blocks and started piling up kills — eight, to be exact.

TWU didn’t come within three points until fighting off five set points to make it 24-23. But Wildeboer put it away to tie the match 1-1.

Thomson went to Dyer again to start the third set. The Barbados native made a block immediately after, then scored again to put her team up 6-1.

Thomson, Canada West’s top-scoring setter, who hadn’t scored on a dump through the first two sets, piled up three early in the third.

Maddy Hettinga got in on the fun with back-to-back kills, and Megan Pickford tacked on two more to open up a massive 15-6 advantage.

Free and loose, the Bobcats played the cleanest set they’ve had in years, making a total of three errors, including attacking, serving and receiving, to climb ahead 24-12.

They endured an eight-point mental lapse of ugly passing and sloppy attacking, but Hauta finally put Brandon ahead 2-1.

A back-and-forth fourth set was tied 16-16 when Brandon snuck ahead two on a Wildeboer back-row blast, but TWU answered with three in a row to lead 20-19.

The Spartans extended their lead to 23-21 on a Wildeboer error.

BU fended off two set points, then three more as they exchanged blows up to 27-27.

Hauta scored to bring up match point, and after a timeout, Thomson made a ridiculous dig for Hauta to set Wildeboer, who chipped the ball off the block and out of play.

TWU outscored BU with 51 kills to its 46, while both made 24 errors.

The Spartans outscored the Bobcats, despite losing 3-1, and Wildeboer knows they’ll bring more fight tonight at 6:45.

“Just keep staying confident in the systems we run, our defence,” Wildeboer said. “Keep it positive, light, confident.”

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com