Bobcat duo makes U21 national team

Ethan Baraniuk and Matt Siebenga endured the most demanding test of their volleyball careers, but weren’t sure they did enough.

Both walked into coach Mike Hawkins’ office on Friday after three gruelling days of tryouts, unsure of what they’d hear.

Both walked out ecstatic.

The Brandon University Bobcats duo made Volleyball Canada’s under-21 men’s national team and will compete at the Pan American Championship in Guatemala City in two weeks.

“It was pretty awesome,” Siebenga said. “I was the last meeting to get called in, so I knew a couple of guys had gotten cut, guys I wasn’t expecting to get cut, so it got in my head.

“But I got the news and it was pure happiness, it was awesome.”

“Super excited to make the team, it’s really such an honour,” added Baraniuk.

“It was definitely more of a surprise. I know the competition was so good and there were so many good left sides they had to cut out, so I was definitely nervous going into the meeting room, not knowing if I made it or not, but it feels really good that I did.”

Baraniuk spent last summer with the U19 national team, cracking the starting rotation for the world championship in Uzbekistan.

The former Vincent Massey Viking approached the three days of two three-hour sessions with the mindset of staying aggressive to stand out. At six-foot-seven with a spike touch nearing 12-foot, he was certainly able to.

Hawkins, the UBC men’s head coach, said he saw what he expected to see in Baraniuk, having watched his U19 national team performances and coached against him.

“He’s a jack of all trades … a good quality receiver, really smart attacker with some good velocity from the baseline,” Hawkins said.

“In a tryout camp, it’s easy for us to be wowed by the big kills, big blocks, but we were fortunate that we were able to have our scout code a lot of our practices. We had a lot of very good objective data to help with our decisions.

“It’s not a surprise Baraniuk, day in and day out, was one of the top performers across all skills. Quite frankly, he made our decision pretty easy.”

Siebenga hadn’t been to a national team tryout before, but spent his senior year of high school with the National Excellence Program (NEP) before two completely different seasons as a Bobcat.

The six-foot-seven Hamilton native spent his rookie year as the fourth middle blocker on the depth chart, well behind German import Philipp Lauter and a step behind veterans Chris Bryant and Riley Brunet, who shared the second spot in coach Grant Wilson’s rotation.

“The amount of pure development I made in my first year was unbelievable,” Siebenga said. “Being with probably some of the best blockers in the country … they don’t give you any breathing room but it’s so good. It’s such a competitive environment.

“That’s their way, or G’s way, of getting you ready for when you play.”

Lauter graduated and Bryant didn’t return, opening the door for Siebenga to start. With little to no depth at the position, he didn’t even have to look over his shoulder. Siebenga played every match, averaging 1.07 blocks per set, good for eighth in Canada West.

He also posted 91 kills and a .392 hitting percentage as BU reached the play-in round but went no further.

Siebenga felt all of the high-pressure situations his team faced paid off.

“No one really talks about the stress that goes into it. You can practise all you want but the second you step onto the court in front of all those fans, it’s way more stressful,” Siebenga said.

“You learn about that environment and it helps when you come into a tryout like this.”

At the tryout, there were seven middle blockers to scatter across four teams, meaning someone had to double-shift. Those who know Siebenga could easily predict who stepped up.

“Having my body ready for that, it was a way for me to show I have that Team Canada grit,” Siebenga said.

Hawkins expected the middles to rotate through the double shifts, as opposed to having the young Bobcat jump nearly 300 times in one session, but he was impressed.

“For a guy his size to be such a good blocker, you need to be really good with your read and really good with your initial movements, and when we got to the slightly more defensive-focused practices later in the week, that’s when he really started to shine,” Hawkins said.

“By the end, it was a no-brainer with his intensity, his ability to change the game as a middle blocker.”

Hawkins started the camp by asking the players how they defined Team Canada and wrote their descriptions on the white board used for practice plans for the rest of the week.

Siebenga said the highlights included, “Be a relentless fighter, show up every day, give it your all, no excuses.”

While Baraniuk and Siebenga accomplished their goal of making the team, they quickly shifted to a new one.

One bigger than themselves.

The players who made the team stayed in Calgary and have been continuing with intense training to prepare for their trip to Guatemala on June 21.

Canada is in Group B, facing Nicaragua on June 23, Costa Rica on June 24 and Guatemala on June 25.

The winners of each four-team pool have a bye to the semifinals, with No. 2 and 3 crossing over for the quarters. The final is on June 28.

Canada struggled mightily when Baraniuk competed at the U19 worlds, finishing 23rd out of 24.

So he knows nothing will come easily.

“It takes a lot of mental preparation, visualization to know what to expect,” Baraniuk said.

“Last year, the world championship was a much bigger stage but it’s still going into it with the exact same mindset of wanting to beat every single team we can and playing our best.”

Siebenga’s first chance to wear the Maple Leaf came at the NORCECA Final Six last October, as the Bobcats represented Canada and finished in fifth place.

He’s definitely ready to work and push for more this summer.

“It’s cool to see your work pay off,” Siebenga said. “But the stuff leading up to this, now that’s the baseline.”

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com