Plainsmen star Hargreaves commits to Cougars

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This article was published 10/03/2022 (1468 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Another Assiniboine Community College MVP is moving on and the Cougars couldn’t have announced his replacement any faster.

The same week Carter Beattie was named Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference men’s volleyball co-MVP — and disclosed his intentions to play at the U Sports level next year as current Brandon University Bobcat Paycen Warkentin did a few years back — ACC announced Ryden Hargreaves has committed for the 2022-23 season.

“Ryden is an offensive threat and a solid passing left side,” head coach Joel Small said in a release. “He has a few more years of experience, brings a good energy to the court and has a good volleyball IQ having both coached and played.”

The Brandon product hasn’t played for a school team since his senior year in 2019-20 when he was the star of the Crocus Plainsmen varsity boys team. At six-foot-six and the top scorer nearly every match, the left side was — literally and figuratively — head and shoulders above his team.

It wasn’t always that way, however, especially when he missed the cut for the Brandon Volleyball Club Gold team in his 15-and-under season.

“That fired me up. I grew a little bit and 16U, that’s when I really started taking it seriously,” Hargreaves said. “I felt kind of blindsided because I made the team in 13U and 14U but I guess … wasn’t putting in enough effort.

“Looking back at it now, I did deserve to get cut but it made me a little upset and work harder.”

Hargreaves shifted his focus more heavily towards golf in 2020 as it was one of few sports still able to hold competitions safely during the pre-vaccine stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hargreaves doesn’t miss many cuts on the golf course. He finished tied for 35th at the 2020 provincial men’s amateur championship —at 28 over in four rounds — at Minnewasta Golf and Country Club in Morden. He went T36 at Neepawa Golf and Country Club last year at 19 over. Hargreaves also qualified for the 32-man match play championship field twice, falling to NCAA Division I golfer Braxton Kuntz in 2020 and eventual champion Lyle McKenzie in 2021.

The Sun witnessed Hargreaves fire a bogey-free, 5-under 67 from the back tees at Shilo Country Club last summer.

He feels golf helped his mental game, which translates to the volleyball court.

“Golf definitely taught me patience for sure, even though I don’t always look very patient on the golf course,” Hargreaves said. “I think it probably taught me patience and poise and just not to be too hard on yourself because I used to get pretty down on myself when I played volleyball and made mistakes but … you got to just move on and keep a clear headspace.”

Hargreaves spent his Grade 11 season at Crocus as the second left side with Liam Kristjanson, who helped the Winnipeg Wesmen finish atop Canada West’s East Division at 11-7.

Hargreaves said he learned a lot from the six-foot-nine attacker, most notably his “fiery” edge that brought energy to the team. He’ll also bring consistency as a passer and high-percentage hitter.

The Cougars arguably had the most offensive firepower in the MCAC this year. Starting setter Austin Steele went down with a torn right Achilles tendon in the first match of the year and ACC had to shift libero Noah Barcellona to setter. They struggled in serve receive and while Beattie still racked up 190 kills, the offence wasn’t as efficient as it could have been. Assiniboine went 4-12 before dropping a four-set decision to Providence in the semifinals last weekend.

Small noted the Cougars only lose four players — Beattie, middle blocker Talon Frick, outside Tegan Nagorski and libero Hayden Crampain — and are actively filling out the roster already.

Hargreaves has played with a number of the returnees and is impressed with their growth this season. He’s taking the construction electrician program, which is one year but has an apprenticeship that would make him eligible for a second season.

MCAC NOTES:

The MCAC futsal season finally resumes — and concludes — this weekend. Weather and COVID-19 issues led to multiple postponements but the Cougars and Brandon University Bobcats head to Canadian Mennonite University (women) and Université de Saint-Boniface (men) for two games each on Saturday.

On the women’s side, ACC plays St. Boniface at 10:30 a.m. and Providence at 1:30 p.m. BU takes on Providence at noon and St. Boniface at 3 p.m.

The ACC men play Les Rouges at 11 a.m. and Pilots at 2:30 p.m., while Brandon plays Providence at 12:45 p.m. and St. B at 4:15 p.m.

The playoffs are all at St. Boniface on Sunday. The women’s semifinals are at 8:30 a.m. and 10:15 a.m., then the men go at noon and 1:45 p.m.

The gold-medal matches are set for 3:30 p.m. (women) and 5:15 (men).

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