September 20th, 2010 - Langley, BC
This marks the beginning of week 2 for the 2010-2011 edition of the TWU Spartan Men's Volleyball Team. Considering the season has been going for 16 days prior to the official week 1 in Russia things are going exceedingly well. The team after coming back from Russia is quite beat up. The 10 matches in 12 days with little to no therapy and no ice (come on, no ice in Russia what are the odds) meant the nagging injuries or hurts went unattended and began to really nag the athletes. A lot of the Spartans were playing during the summer and many picked up "overuse" hurts (are you hurt or are you injured...hurt players can play, injured players cannot) that now have to be attended to.
This is to be a short week with the team departing for the annual Okanagan Tour with the University of Alberta Bears and the UBC-Okanagan Heat. The first game of the tour will be thursday night, September 23rd versus the Bears in Penticton, BC. Game 2 will be Friday, September 24th against those same Bears from Alberta but in Kelowna at the beautiful UBC-Okanagan campus at 8pm. The final match of the tour will be against future Canada West rival beginning fall of 2011, the UBC-O Heat.
This Okanagan Tour is a long time Spartan tradition as the Spartans and Bears have been doing this exhibition tour for around eight seasons with some epic matches being played. This year's edition of the tour looks to be just as exciting as previous years with both Alberta and TWU medalling at last year's CIS National Championship in Kamloops (Alberta 3rd, TWU 2nd). Both perennial contenders for the CIS Title will be in the hunt again this year as the two squads return the bulk of their starting line ups from a year ago.
Adding to the excitement this year will be the match against the Heat of UBC-O. One year ago the CCAA Bronze medalists beat the Spartans in a laugher 3-0. The Heat, who will begin CIS play in the fall of 2011 boast a great CCAA line up that will be able to make the jump to Canada West play quite smoothly under the leadership of coach Greg "Potsy" Poitras. A coach with one of the best down ball arms around has put together a very physical team led by Canadian Junior National Team middle blocker Chris Howe and the BCCAA's most dominant outside hitter Nate Speijer. While the Spartans look to avoid another defeat the Heat will look to cut their Canwest teeth in preparation for their move to the big leagues.
The Spartans, who in recent years, have struggled in the preseason look to start the 10-11 campaign in style. A year ago the TWU squad only won one preseason match against Canadian competition. This year the Spartans head to the Okanagan with a number more matches under their belt from the Russian Tour. That match experience on a young Spartan squad, seems like we say that every year somehow, should allow the Spartans to play beyond their 8 practice experience.
Look for TWU to play a variety of line ups in the matches this weekend as they look to find the right combination of players to fill the gaps left by Steve Marshal & Paul Linemulder's departure from last season's silver medal winning team. The projected left sides Marc Howatson and Brad Kufske are both out with injury and will not be available to play this weekend so the question of left side play will remain open. Mikiah Schalk (5th year), freshman Nick Del Bianco and former middle Rudy Verhoeff will shoulder most of the load in the passing attacker (noosh) role.
The surprise of the preseason training has been the play of Daniel Jansen Van Doorn who put a ton of work into getting himself ready for this season in his off season training. His hard work has paid dividends as his testing numbers were off the charts . DVD, as he is affectionately called by teammates, tied for the hightest spike touch at 11'7 and was half an inch off Spartan legend Chris Meehan's block touch record of 10'10.5". Dan's numbers put him along side many international middle blocker's jump testing numbers. His 6'11 wing span is an imposing figure to go along with a 6'8 frame.
Along with Dan, 4th year setter Ben Ball has been extremely impressive in preseason training and on the Russian Tour. Ben is heading into his 4th year and has started all but his first semester as a Spartan. As one of the most gifted athletes ever to wear a Spartan uniform he is the engine that runs the Spartan machine and he has never looked better than he has this fall. His physical testing numbers were impressive but so too has his playmaking ability. Look for Ben to turn heads this year and the Spartans try to defend their title as the top attacking team in Canada West (1st in Kills/Game).
Finally, the biggest question, both in and out of the Spartan camp has been who will pick up the kills left by departing all conference player and Spartan kill leader Steve Marshall. The easy answer was Marc Howatson but with his ankle injury making him unavailable until at least mid-semester the role goes to fellow National Team member Rudy Verhoeff who looks to make the move to the wing for the first time in his CIS career. Rudy was among the top middles in the CIS the past two seasons but now he must reprove himself as a wing player. For those who know Rudy it comes as no surprise that he has worked very hard improving his physicality, passing and attacking ability. He tested at 11'6, up from 11'4, and has become a very stable passer. His lightning fast arm and aggressive nature make him a very potent offensive force potentially and a more than adaquate replacement for Marshall on the wing.
With their ticket already booked to the National Championship this March by way of the host berth the Spartans have the entire season to find the right combination of players, style of play and mentality to make a run to return to the National Final...this time with hopes of a different outcome.
This quest begins in just three days...the Faithful, Spartans, Bears & Heat are all excited to see what awaits this weekend in the beautiful interior BC towns of Penticton and Kelowna. Stay tuned to this blog & gospartans.ca for match details.
Go Spartans!!!
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