February 2nd, 2009
Langley, BC
The Spartans returned home to Langley on Superbowl Sunday, just in time for the game, but more importantly with a split in cold, windy Brandon, Manitoba.
Friday night's match showcased a powerful Spartan offense that declawed the Bobcats, hitting for a 36.6%. The match up showcased two of the top offenses in the conference and on the first night the Spartans were the better team. Leading the way were Aaron Vandenbrink and Rudy Verhoeff both with 13 kills and hitting 44% & 75.5% respectively. It was clear early that Brandon was intent on containing second year left side hitter Marc Howatson but in doing so made themselves vulnerable to the other Spartan attackers. TWU, who prides themselves on offensive balance, saw all five primary attackers with 9 kills or more. Paul Lindemulder and Josh Doornenbal added 9 to go with Howatson's 10. This balance is a tribute to Chaim Schalk's distribution and the passing of the Spartans.
Heading into the weekend the Spartans identified passing as a key to beating the Conference leading Ace/game team. The Bobcats showcase Paul Sanderson who is leading Canada West with .91 aces per game and is easily the top server in the country. While Sanderson did get loose for 5 aces the first night he did miss 7 serves against the four man passing rotation of the Spartans.
TWU controlled every facet of the match with the exception of serving, which is clearly the weakest part of the Spartan attack. Trinity out blocked Brandon 8 to 5.5. Out dug the Bobcats 49-47 and the earlier mentioned attacking numbers of 36.6% to 23.1%.
With the 3-1 win the Spartans assured themselves of the split, all that remained was the opportunity to achieve an unlikely sweep of the higher ranked Bobcats.
Alas the sweep was not to be. As is typical of Canada West this 2008-09 season sweeps are hard to come by for anyone outside the province of Alberta. The Bobcats showed their true teeth with a convincing three game sweep of the Spartans. Tee Dub started slow giving Brandon a lead of up to 8 points in the first set. Though they closed the gap the result of game one was 25-21.
The momentum Trinity gained at the end of the first set was short lived. After going up 5-2 the Bobcats went on a 14-3 run to take a 16-8 lead into the second technical time out. The Brandon run was a little bit unlucky for the Spartans with some oddly bouncing balls and some great blocking and defense by the Bobcats.
After a couple substitutions the Spartans came out of the time out and showed a ton of character and fight and scrapped out a 11-5 run of their own to level things at 21. Ben Ball took over the setting role and Chaim became the go to guy on the comeback run. After that it was great side out volleyball but a phantom back row call and a missed four hit call cost the Spartans their comeback bid.
The third set was good new fashioned side out volleyball with the game seeing no leads of more than two with the exception of an 8-5 Brandon lead. Which was quickly eliminated by back to back yellow cards for showboating and trash talking, an element to the game that would only increase as the match went on, though only from one side of the net. At 21's the Bobcats sided out for a one point advantage and scored three consecutive points for the 25-21 win.
In the end the Spartans have to look back on the first set and a half and recognize that their intensity was not equivalent to the magnitude of the match and not good enough to earn a sweep on the road. The final set and a half was great volleyball between two great teams.
Brandon has to be the most hostile environment in the conference to play in. The fans are very aggressive in their comments to players during the match and the Bobcat players are even more so. It is this type of intense environment that the Spartans must learn to deal with and overcome to be able to win twice on the road in the Canada West. That lesson will be tested out next weekend as the Spartans finish their conference schedule in Saskatoon against the Huskies.
Go Spartans!
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