January 22nd, 2009
Langley, BC
This weekend the Spartan Men's Volleyball Team will host the #6 ranked Thompson Rivers Wolfpack at what could be the final volleyball matches at the David E Enarson gymnasium. The #8 ranked Spartans are in for a very physical weekend with one of the biggest teams in the conference. The 'Pack rank in the top four in the conference in hitting percentage, opponent hitting percentage, aces and blocks. On top of this they boast two of the top attacking players in the conference with left side Gord Perrin and right side Robin Schobel. These two impressive athletes are both very physical possessing big jump and big arms.
In order to protect the final weekend for the Enar the Spartans will have to try to neutralize the Wolfpack offensive pressure with solid blocking and inspired defense. The Spartans are 2nd in the conference in opponent hitting percentage, 5th in blocks and 3rd in digs. They will need to at least match their season averages in order to achieve success this weekend in Langley.
These two teams are fairly familiar with each other, playing five times in the 2007-08 season with TWU edging out TRU 3 games to 2 including a split in Kamloops in the only two meetings of the regular season. In the current season the teams have only met once back in October in Kamloops with the home team winning convincingly 3-0. Of note senior setter Chaim Schalk was unable to play that match due to a quad strain.
This weekend's match-up is one of brawn vs brains. The Wolfpack use their size and athleticism to block, serve and bang their way to victories. The Spartans find their success with speed, skill and a varied offense using many different attacking options and patterns to neutralize opponents. This weekend will truly come down to which team can impose their will upon the game pulling the flow of the match towards the respective team's strengths.
Some match ups of note in the game within the game will be the battle in the middle and the obvious match ups of the TRU bangers on the wing. The Spartans middles are smaller and more offensively geared in comparison to the bigger blocking style middles of TRU. The battle for the middle will determine much of what is to happen throughout the weekend as Rudy Verhoeff and Josh Doornenbal try to attack for a high percentage against the big blockers Stefan Savoie and Martin Korsbak. The Spartans right side blockers Chaim Schalk and Aaron Vandenbrink will have their hands full with Gord Perrin who was teammates this summer with Marc Howatson and Verhoeff with the World Championship qualifier Team Canada Juniors. The Spartans left sides will have their hands equally full with French right side Schobel who is as physical as you will find in Canada West. The games within the game will be very enjoyable for the patrons of the Enar to watch.
To make this weekend's match up even better is the playoff implications that exist. At 9-5 the Wolfpack have clinched a playoff spot and are in sole possession of third place in the conference. The Spartans sit at 7-5, good enough for 4th place in the conference. A Wolfpack sweep in Langley will all but secure a no worse finish than third for TRU. A Spartan sweep will essentially tie the two teams with TWU holding two games in hand and will go a long way to securing a home playoff birth for the Spartans. A split will put a tremendous amount of pressure on the final two weekends for the Spartans in their hopes of adding another opportunity for the TWU fans to flock to David E. The split will essentially eliminate TRU from contention for the 2nd place spot in the conference and will make their final two matches with Calgary the following weekend their final opportunity to secure their own home playoff birth.
The weekend is setting up to be the biggest weekend for both teams of the season and with both teams being BC teams with lots of Fraser Valley flavour the crowd should be large and charged.
Match times go 8pm on Friday and 7pm Saturday.
Go Spartans!
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