October 12th, 2010 - Langley, BC
After coming off two matches with Canada West rival Thompson Rivers University the Spartans switched gears and entered a tournament at Douglas College that featured the top college teams in the BCCAA and Keyano College from the Alberta College league.
This is the fourth year the Spartans have competed in the Douglas Tournament on the Thanksgiving weekend. It provides some great on court experience for the Spartan younglings. The ability for a team to perform well on weekends is due to its ability to train well during the week. As the conference schedule draws closer the training pits the older players against the younger players. The ability of the "second" unit to push and compete against the "first" unit helps sharpen the team and raises their performance level. The younger Spartans had a great opportunity to raise their level playing against similar aged competition this past weekend and will make their ability to push and compete against their fellow Spartans that much better.
Game 1 of the tournament was against the Capilano Blues from northern Vancouver. The Blues were a very scrappy team with inspired defense and gave the Spartan squad a tough battle. Game 1 to the Spartans, game 2 to the Blues and game 3 to the Spartans. The Spartans were showcasing four freshamen in their lineup: Micah Jansen Van Doorn (Setter, Langley, BC), Nick Del Bianco (Left Side, Langley, BC), Branden Schmidt (Right Side, Calgary, AB) and Derek Thiessen (Outside Hitter, Coquitlam, BC). Thiessen is a freshman by eligibility standards as he had to sit out last season recovering from an ACL surgery. The young Spartans showed their youth in this match making a few too many unforced errors to win in two sets but showed enough maturity to play well in the third and deciding set.
Game 2 was against the host Douglas Royals. These two teams are very familiar with many members of both teams playing together in club and high school. The familiarity made the match fun as the two teams battled. The Spartans were paced by Derek Thiesen and Branden Schmidt who were on fire offensively. It was great to see Thiessen start to regain his former glory as he continues to find his match rhythm. Schmidt, a highly recruited high schooler from a year ago, showed why he was a prize recruit for the Spartans this off season as he imposed his physical presence on the match from the baseline serving and at the net attacking and blocking. The Spartans started the first set poorly going down 7-17 but after a timeout and a challenge from coach they went out and played with extreme passion winning the first set 27-25. The timeout challenge was simple, "they way you are playing...I don't think you can beat this team" stated coach Josephson. Sounds awefully like something a coach would say to u16 players but the Spartans sure didnt play like u16 athletes after the timeout. It was some of the most dominating volleyball of the tournament to finish the first set. Sets 2 & 3 were more of the same as the Spartans found their rhythm and executed the Royals to at three set death. Douglas College will be one of the dominant teams in teh BCCA this season as they are very big and are extremely well coached. They will be a team that will make some huge noise in the CCAA playoffs in March 2011.
Game 3 of the tournament saw a battle of the Valley with TWU taking on University of the Fraser Valley Cascades. In another match that saw a lot of former teammates competing against each other it was very enjoyable to watch the battle. The Spartans were playing really solid ball by this point in the tournament. The younglings were proving to be very tough servers as they continued to bomb away from the baseline with all four freshmen hitting their spin serves will by this point. The Cascades passed the tough Spartan serves well but they were a little too small to get past what is becoming the identity of this year's team match by match...Blike. Its a block but scores like a spike...blike. The Spartans used their dominance at the net to score another 3-0 win.
October 10th or 10-10-10 was the playoff phase of the tournament. In the semi final the Spartans played fellow Christian school and Valley residents Columbia Bible College. The Bearcats' head coach Rocky Olfert is a Spartan alum and spent one season with the Spartans as an assistant coach. He is more than an accomplished coach and his team was the best team systematically in the tournament based on the performances versus TWU. The CBC team was also very big and posed some major issues for TWU at the net. For the first time in the tournament the Spartans were rejected on their aggressive shots. A few adjustments by the young Spartans and the floor shots turned into hand wipes and the Spartans began to roll again. This match showcased the youngling's ability from the baseline instead of the net as they served their way to a 3-0 win. Though the Spartans were able to win all three sets the match was very competitive and will fuel the battle that will continue Wednesday October 13th, as the teams play again at Langley Christian High School.
The final was another match against the TRU Wolfpack. Many of TRU's older players and regular starters went home the night before as they had been down since thursday. The team the 'pack put on the floor for the final was many of their young players with a couple ringers. Former national teamer Drew Venables, TRU assistant coach, who set for the Manitoba Bisons was enlisted as the TRU setter. At 6'8 he gave the Spartans some trouble at the net with the height he was able to pass the ball at. The Wolfpack also showed their size at the other positions blocking their way to a good sized first set lead. When the first set was all but finished the Spartans made one last surge and came back from a 22-24 deficit to win 27-25. After that first set the young Spartans led by 4th year captain Rudy Verhoeff stormed through sets 2 & 3 en route to yet another 3-0 win over TRU. This match showcased last year's top BC high school volleyball athlete Nick Del Bianco. Nick hit .500 and went error free for the match in one of this season's special performances helping the Spartans take the Douglas Tournament championship.
The tournament was a great display of system volleyball the Spartan way. The younglings played better and better as the tournament went along and these experiences will go a long way to helping this team as it prepares for Canada West play as well as building for the future when the current core begins to retire. The future of Spartan Men's Volleyball will be in good hands.
The Spartans resume play Wednesday, October 13th vs CBC at Langley Christian before heading out east for 8 matches in 10 days. These matches include opponents such as Queen's, Western Ontario, Brandon, UNB and Dalhousie. This will be the final preseason push before returning home to begin Canada West play October 29t at the UBC T-Birds and another heated rivarly.
Go Spartans!!!
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