Bobcats sign Melville lefty Wandy

Nate Wandy is glad to be done with the courting process, so he can shift his focus to the court.

For the six-foot-four opposite from Melville, Sask., the Brandon University men’s volleyball team was the perfect match.

“The way I look at all the recruiting stuff is it was kind of like dating. You’re talking to one person, then talking to another person, then one ghosts you,” Wandy said. “It’s almost like you’re cheating on one person with another person.

“With (Bobcats coaches) Bryce (Wilson) and Grant (Wilson), I was on the radar the whole time, and that showed me these guys are sticking with me.

“They’ll be great for me to build myself and get better as a player. They really showed the true BU colours and that’s something I look for.”

Wandy’s roots in volleyball and his connections to western Manitoba and BU go way back. His father, Darren, was inducted into the Volleyball Manitoba Hall of Fame in 2021 as part of the Goose Lake Raiders dynasty that won five AA provincial championships from 1992 to 1997.

Wandy also knows former Bobcat Matt Powell, a Melville product who now coaches at Seneca College and was named the 2026 Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association men’s volleyball coach of the year.

Wandy’s parents met at a pre-season coaches meeting when Darren still worked out of Yorkton, Sask., before he moved to Melville and eventually became the vice principal at Melville Comprehensive.

Since Melville doesn’t have a club volleyball program, Wandy played his 14-and-under and 15U seasons with the Yorkton Bongos club before joining Summit Volleyball Club, one of the province’s biggest ones based out of Regina.

He also started training with Reid Hall, a strength and conditioning coach based out of Ontario.

“Huge improvement on my physique and my spike touch,” Wandy said, adding that his spike touch has gone up from 11-foot-one to 11-foot-five.

“We knew I’d have to do something more to get myself above other kids, so we decided to work with Reid and he’s been super good.”

That work has helped Wandy make the provincial team roster for the past three summers, and push Team Saskatchewan to a third-place finish at the Canada Cup this year.

It continues to pay off as he joins a BU rookie class that includes Neelin Spartan Lucas Gamache.

Grant Wilson has watched the hard-hitting lefty develop for a few years now. He’s as impressed with Wandy’s skill set as his attitude.

“He’s extremely physical for a kid his age; he’ll be one of the hardest hitters in this grad class across the country,” Wilson said.

“In a similar sense with Lucas Gamache, he is … a really great teammate. He will do whatever it takes to help the team. He’s very goal-oriented.

“There’s a lot of upside, maybe a little bit undersized for his position but he jumps well and because he’s so physical and has a really good presence and attitude, he’ll be a really big addition for our group.”

Wandy feels his attacking is a big strength, and that his defence has caught up with some serious work during the summer. He’s trying to improve his blocking, and sees the big picture when it comes to the future at BU, where he plans to study physical education.

“They’re building a legacy team in two to three years. We’re going to be really good in two to three years and I want to be part of that,” Wandy said. “That kind of sparked me.”

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com