CIS men's volleyball Friday roundup

EDMONTON – The Trinity Western University Spartans, currently the hottest team in Canada West, extended their win streak to 16 games, defeating the Brandon University Bobcats in four sets (25-19, 25-19, 21-25, 25-22) for the second-straight year in a conference semi-final, Friday afternoon at the Saville Community Sports Centre.

Trinity Western moves on to the Canada West Final on Saturday, looking to earn its first gold medal since 2012, despite having played in the final the past two years. Perhaps just as important, the Spartans also clinch a spot in the CIS championship, February 26 – 28, at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Sask. The Bobcats will play in the bronze medal game on Saturday, awaiting their opponent from the second semi-final later tonight.

 
 Unsurprisingly, Canada West MVP Nick Del Bianco led Trinity Western with a team-high 18 kills and two aces, while Conference Second Team All-Star Ryan Sclater chipped in with 13 kills. Sophomore setter Adam Schriemer recorded 41 assists while the entire squad netted an impressive 28 block assists, senior middle Daniel Grant, also the CIS block leader, contributing a game-high of eight.

 Canada West First Team All-Star Sebastien Steigmeier had a game-high 19 kills for Brandon to go with two aces, while Second Team All-Star Sam Tuivai added 13 kills and fourth-year setter David Stasica put up a game-high 49 assists.

 
 Battling against each other for the third-straight year at the Canada West Final Four tournament, the opening set was relentlessly even for the familiar foes until the Spartans began pulling away after the technical timeout, a 6-0 run getting the score to 22-16.

 The Bobcats responded with good defence on powerful digs to erase part of the deficit, but a bad set error by Stasica handed Trinity Western a 1-0 set lead.

 The Spartan defence then took control to open the second, forcing Brandon to make errors on the attack through direct blocks or having nowhere to go except out of bounds, a 7-2 run giving Trinity Western a confident lead.

Although the Bobcats tried to shift the momentum several times, the Spartans just kept playing their game, going point-for-point with their opponents before Tuivai's jump serve went long to make it 24-18 and senior outside hitter Branden Schmidt fired one off Tuivai in the back row and high into the crowd for a commanding 2-0 set lead.

 "Beating Brandon is never easy," replied Trinity Western head coach Ben Josephson, "especially at this time of year. They have four or five of the best players in the country, so to compete against them for the right to win Canada West and move on to the CIS championship is difficult. I thought we did a good job early, and I think our blocking made them hesitant with their shot selection. I think the third and fourth sets turned into what I expected the whole match to be, which was a slugfest, but I think we came out of the gate a little quicker than they were prepared for. Once they sort of calibrated to where we were, they're just so physical, that it turned into a slugfest."

Brandon fought back hard in the third set, even though Del Bianco's powerful kill to break a 6-6 tie appeared to have the Spartans in the driver's seat.

 After a quick 5-1 run for Trinity Western, the Bobcats slugged things out, chipping away at the lead and turned a 6-1 run into a 16-15 lead. Three consecutive kills by Del Bianco got the Spartans back on top by two, but 6'7" Steigmeier fueled a 7-1 run with three of his own, the Geneva ,Switzerland native spinning a set-high eight kills to get Brandon back into the match.

The momentum squarely behind the Bobcats, the fourth set began with a 9-4 Brandon lead but a resilient Trinity Western team continued the slugfest, tying things up at 10 apiece before Del Bianco took centre stage.

 "Nick was absolutely our best player tonight, when we needed him to be. I mean, he is Player of the Year for a reason. He's just an incredible player. But Brandon did a good job on him in the third set, I don't think he got his first kill until midway though, and he wasn't serving well. He led the country in aces this year, but not until those final few points in the fourth set, when we needed him to really step up and be the player that he is, did he deliver. And that's what we need from him. We have lots of good players, but when the chips are down, like they were today, we need him to elevate and bring us those final match-winning points, and he did today."

 Delivering a half-dozen kills in the in the second half of the final set, the senior outside hitter spun a cross-court attack down the net and just inside the far line to make it 23-21 and served a monstrous ace off New Zealand setter Roy Ching in the back row to make it 24-21. Sclater would cap off the proceedings with match point off a Brandon defender, solidifying the Spartans' chances at playing for the conference title.

"We're excited for another chance to compete in the gold medal match. We didn't perform so well in that game last time, so we're excited for another shot."

 Trinity Western goes for gold at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday while Brandon plays in the bronze medal game, start time at 5:00 p.m.

EDMONTON – Earning their spot in the Canada West title match, the defending champion University of Alberta Golden Bears complete the comeback, after a first-set setback, taking a four-set win (21-25, 25-17, 25-18, 25-17) over the UBC Thunderbirds, Friday night at the Saville Community Sports Centre.

 Alberta moves on to the Canada West Final on Saturday, looking to earn its 12th conference title in team history, and perhaps just as important, the Bears also clinch a spot in the CIS championship, February 26 – 28, at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Sask. The Thunderbirds will play in the bronze medal game on Saturday, facing off against the Brandon University Bobcats.

 "Winning Canada West is an honour," recalls Alberta head coach Terry Danyluk, "and we're definitely excited to be playing for it again tomorrow. Competing for the CIS championship is always the goal, but coming out of Canada West as the champions is an honour and something we take very seriously. This conference was a real dogfight this year, and we've had guys dealing with injuries all season, so to be in a position to come out on top of the Canada West, and go to CIS as the conference champion is something we're serious about accomplishing."

 Canada West First Team All-Star Ryley Barnes led a scoring-by-committee offence for Alberta on Friday night, spinning a game-high 13 kills, and adding three aces, while three other players also cracked the double-digit barrier. Third-year left side Ryan Nickifor netted 11 kills while fourth-year right side Kevin Proudfoot and third-year middle Taylor Arnett chipped in 10 apiece. Proudfoot, a resident of Calgary, also recorded five aces during a big momentum shift in the third set. CIS assist leader Brett Walsh tallied a game-high 40 assists.

 Third-year outside hitter Mac McNicol, a Canada West Second Team All-Star, threw down eight kills for the visitors, fourth-years Alex Russell and Ben Chow adding a half-dozen kills each while fourth-year setter Milan Nikic posted 30 assists.

 While three of four teams at this weekend's conference championship were fighting for their spots last weekend in best-of-three conference quarter-finals, Alberta had a couple weeks off due to clinching first place and championship hosting duties in the final days of the regular season.

 "We've been off for two weeks, but it's always a pleasure to play at home. I really like our gym, and I like being able to sleep in my own bed and all of those other perks that come with hosting. Some people would say that the time off between regular season and the championship is too long, but I think it benefited us. We had some guys rest and heal up, and our guys really like playing in our gym."

 Unfortunately for the home team, the opening set was not the start they were hoping for, errors besetting their chances at momentum, one by Proudfoot starting a 9-1 run for UBC that broke open a close set and put the visitors ahead by five at 20-15.

 Chow got all six of his kills in the first set, the last one coming off the yet-to-be-redeemed Proudfoot in the back row for set point before senior setter Ian Cooper threw a long serve for Alberta's fifth error from the service line in the set, giving the T-birds the 1-0 set lead.

 "I don't think that first set was sluggishness from being off for two weeks, maybe hesitation, but we finished the season with a pair of five-set games that prepared us really well for these games. And, we practiced really well in the lead up to this week as well, so I don't think it was sluggishness, but maybe hesitation."

 UBC continued their momentum into the second set but only briefly as Alberta and the T-birds engaged in a momentum battle, mini-runs filling the scoresheet for both sides before the Bears fully wrestled control with a 9-2 run, making it 21-12 on the scoreboard.

 Proudfoot then began his redemptive arc when he put down two consecutive kills for the home team, putting his first down the line off Nikic and his second, a cross-court howitzer.

 A long serve by McNicol and a cross-court kill by Nickifor into the far right corner brought the teams even at 1-1.

 "We started passing really well, that was a big difference to our turnaround tonight. Ryan Nickifor, who was named player of the game for us, passed at a very high level and that really helped our game tonight."

 After a back-and-forth beginning to the third set, Proudfoot began his momentous run with two aces bookending a Walsh kill, followed by three more successive attempts at the service line as part of a 7-0 run that had Alberta up 12-5 and the hometown crowd at full volume.
 Although the T-birds snuck back into the set twice on attack and service errors by the Bears, they couldn't completely erase the deficit, Barnes giving Alberta the 2-1 set lead with a decisive mid-court kill.

 The St. Paul, Alta. native had another early in the final set, but UBC was unwilling to give up, hanging around throughout the entire set, as the Bears were able to pick up a couple of points intermittently while going point-for-point for the rest of the set to put them within arm's reach of the gold medal game.

 After senior outside hitter Quentin Schmidt was the unfortunate culprit of three straight errors, by getting prevented by a block, receiving a Nickifor ace, and spinning an attempted kill out of bounds on the side line, Goranson finished the match with a kill off the UBC block that fell beyond the side line on the Alberta side.

 "Trinity has an excellent program. It's going to be very tough. They've won 16 straight matches going into tomorrow, so it'll be a real fight."

 The Bears go for gold at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday while the T-birds play in the bronze medal game, start time at 5:00 p.m.