January 11th, 2009
Langley, BC
This past weekend the TWU Spartans defended the Enar against the formerly mighty Bisons avenging a sweep in Winnipeg to begin 2008 last season. The back to back defeats one year ago was a tough weekend to begin 2008 with and in hindsight ended up costing the Spartans. A split that weekend or a sweep could have seen the Spartans finish as high as third in the conference and earning a host playoff birth. As it turned out the Spartans lost a tie break to finish 7th and had the arduous task of going to the defending National Champions Winnipeg Wesmen in search of two of three matches to advance to the Canada West Final Four and a trip to compete for the National Title. Alas it was not to be...the Spartans fell quickly 0-6 in two nights. Those losses to the Bisons were the death sentence for the 07-08 Spartans.
The 08-09 Spartans knew the story well of what the Bisons cost the previous year. To remind the contemporary Spartans of the previous debacle former Right Side and member of the heart broken 07-08 team Steve Rogalsky left a voicemail asking / requesting that they avenge him and "make the Bisons sad."
Steve...mission accomplished.
The Spartans took care of business this past weekend winning 6 of 7 sets. Neither match was a convincing or dominant performance but it was a decent start to the semester, a good first game back after Christmas and most importantly a little redemption. By beating the Bisons both nights in defense of the Spartans' beloved Enar Tee-Dub looks to have all but clinched a playoff spot. Mathematically there are still 8 teams alive for 7 playoff spots but by putting a 4 match spread between them and the Bisons with 8 matches left the Spartans look to be in good stead to make their 9th straight playoff appearance.
Friday's match was characterized by blocking as both teams put up 10 team blocks in 4 sets. Neither team executed very effectively offensively with the Bisons hitting for 23% and the Spartans 29.5%, one of the season's lowest numbers. Marc Howatson and Aaron Vandenbrink were the key offensive stat makers though Marc did not have one of his best games. Aaron on the other hand was extremely clutch going 12-5 on 22 attempts. Three of his 12 kills were final kills of games including the game winner in sets 1 & 2. For his efforts Aaron was definately the man of the match.
Saturday's match saw the Spartans continue their dominant blocking with 13.5 but hit the ball much more efficiently going 32.7% as a team including the two high attempt players Howatson & Chaim Schalk hitting .417 & .476 respectively. When the high volume players are also the high effeciency players it is always a good formula for success. Vandenbrink continued his onslaught of Bison blockers and defenders putting up 8 kills on 14 attempts for .357. The lowlight of the night was Josh Doornenbal's three service violations and back row violation which still has the Spartans joking throughout the week's practice. The highlight was Chaim Schalk's stat line:
12 kills
2 error
21 attack attempts
35 set assists
3 digs (4 missed digs...for humility)
7 blocks
Keep in mind this is the setter...he only hit one rotation per set.
Rogalsky, you are welcome. The Bisons go home sad and the Spartans take a little revenge, rest and recognize that the semester gets tougher.
The #1 Bears...in the den...next weekend.
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