October 12th, 2010 - Langley, BC
This was a busy week for Spartan Men's Volleyball. Two matches with TRU on Oct 7th & 8th followed by a 5 match weekend tournament at Douglas College. All tolled it was..."great success" for the Spartans.
October 7th, 2010: vs TRU @ MEI, Abbotsford, BC
The first match of the weekend was against long time rival Thompson Rivers University from Kamloops. For those unaware of the rivalry it is often heated and very competitive as the recent Canada West member Wolfpack team has quickly become a force in the league grabbing three national championship appearances including a bronze medal. These same Wolfpackers also knocked the Spartans out of the Canada West playoffs in 2009. Needless to say whenever these two teams collide there is fireworks. The match on October 7th was no different.
The match was hosted by Mennonite Educational Institute which is the standard of BC High School Boy's volleyball winning the previous 5 provincial AA titles and 7 of the last 8. The Eagles have produced many great Spartans as well as T-Birds and Wolfpack players. The current Spartan roster showcases two former Eagles in setter Ben Ball (4th) and libero John Wiebe (3rd). Just prior to the match these two MEI greats were honored in a special ceremony with TRU libero Matt Kruger. All three athletes are two time provincial senior champions and were given commemorative picture collages to remember their time at MEI with.
The crowd was in high spirits as this was their first view of the 2010-11 edition of the Spartans and many alumni, family members and Spartan Faithful were in attendance. The match got off to a good start for the home team as the Spartans blocked their way to a first set win of 25-17.
Game two was more of the same from the Spartans as they lead the whole way finishing the set with a score of 25-17. The TWU lineup is a bit curious to those who've followed the Spartans over the past couple of years. Long time middle standouts Rudy Verhoeff and Josh Doornenbal were no longer standing tall in the middle, rather they were playing on the wings this match. With injuries sidelining expected starters Marc Howatson and Brad Kufske the Spartans have moved their starting middles from the previous two seasons to the wings. This move has made the TWU team extremely big and having four middles on the court give the Spartans a block the Green Bay Packers O-Line would be proud of. It would seem natural that with four middles on the court the team would lose some reception and defense but this was not visually the case. The ball control was solid and the blocking and attacking was much more than solid.
Game three was much more competitive as the Wolfpack played their best set trying to stave off the sweep but a late comeback by the Spartans finished off the night with a 26-24 three set sweep. The teams, sensing the crowd wanted more, agreed to play another set which gave TWU a chance to get some of the younglings in and a taste of playing in front of the Spartan friendly crowd. The young lads of Sparta were great down the stretch and served ace bombs. A total of 7 aces from freshmen Branden Schmid (Calgary, AB) and Nick Del Bianco (Langley, BC) finished off the night and gave the Spartans a 4-0 win.
After the match the Spartan Faithful and Friends were treated to a Russia Tour recap. The athletes shared their highlights and some of the forming experiences the team had while on their two week tour in Russia. It was a great night of sharing and connecting between all generations of Spartan Men's Volleyball. All in all it was a special night. Spartans win, share and all went home happy, maybe not TRU but there is always another day...that day would be Friday.
October 8th: vs TRU @ Langley Events Centre - Home of the Spartans
The Friday night match was the second of the mini tour between the Spartans and the Wolfpack. This was the first match played in the friendly confines of the Langley Events Centre which saw the home team only lose three times during the 2009-10 campaign. Like any wounded animal the Spartans were expecting the pack of Wolves from TRU to come out hot and ready to respond to the previous nights loss. The Spartans came out with bad intentions to defend their home soil and send the 'pack back to their den 0-2. The first set's score says it all 25-9. The Spartans controlled the set from start to finish only committing two unforced errors all set.
Set two saw Schmidt and Del Bianco make their LEC debut and they continued where the veterans left off helping the Spartans take game 2 25-12. The Spartans were playing with great energy and continued to block the ball extremely well. Assistant coach Ryan Adams is in charge of the Spartan block and though TWU has looked good in training blocking even he could not expect the proficiency the home squad blocked the ball with. The third set ended 25-17 and ran the total for the 7 sets to 36 stuff blocks. While under Head Coach Ben Josephson the Spartans have come to be known as a defensive/ball control team based around a highly efficient offense. Now with the addition of a dominating block the Spartans are building a multi-dimensional team that can win in a variety of ways.
After the first two matches of the week TWU was feeling really good as they draw first blood in the TRU v TWU rivalry in 2010. While the wins looked lopsided this will not likely be the case when TRU returns for the Canada West home opener November 5th. CIS rookie of the year in 2009-10 Kevin Tillie was injured and played libero on the second night. Tillie is a very dangerous weapon for the 'pack and with him healthy the matches will take on a very different appearance, but hopefully for the Spartan Faithful the same result.
Look for the next edition of the inter provincial rivalry to take place at the LEC November 5th & 6th.
Go Spartans!!!
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