Queen's Tournament Recap

October 17th, 2010: Kingston, Ontario

This past weekend Spartan Men's Volleyball competed in the Queen's Invitational Tournament hosted by Queen's University. This was an important event for the Spartans to play in because it gave them the opportunity to play two of the OUA's (Ontario Conference) top teams and also exposed them the facility that will host the 2012 CIS National Tournament.

The Spartan's preseason schedule is a hectic one that has seen them compete in Russia, BC now Ontario and on to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The mentality is to expose the athletes to as many difficult playing conditions as possible to test their toughness under stress and force some team unity in the process. To make things even crazier than travelling east to play an unfamiliar team in an unfamiliar place. The Spartans had to play the first game on little to no sleep. The team departed Abbotsford at 7:45pm on October 14th. Landed in Calgary at 10pm and took off for Toronto at 12:45am, October 15th. A quick turn around at Lester B Pearson airport in Toronto and off to Ottawa arriving at 8am. Then a two hour van ride to Kingston and what was to be a chance to nap turned into a test of durability. The team could not check into the hotel until 3pm so off to the Queen's gym they went. Shortly after arriving at the gym the Spartans scattered around the beautiful Athletic Recreation Centre or ARC to find whatever open piece of furniture, floor or bleacher they could to fall asleep on. Not exactly a high performance procedure. After a short and interrupted nap the team checked into the hotel and tried to catch a few more z's. The it was up for pregame meal and off to the gym for a the feature match of the tournament with the host team Queen's Gaels. For those who remember last March's CIS National Tournament this was the same team the Spartans faced in the quarterfinal match. Last season's OUA champs returned all but one player from last year's team and are thought to be the top team in the OUA this coming season. It was truly going to be a great test for the tired yet resilient Spartans.

To make things worse the match between Brandon and Western went the distance and lengthened the the time before the Spartans could go back to sleep. Starting the match at 9pm a full 25:15 hours after departing Abbotsford it was clear the level of performance was not going to be up to the usual Spartan standard. Queen's took game 1 25-23 and the Spartans showed signs of themselves but made a lot of uncharacteristic errors. They responded to take game 2 25-23 but fell 25-23 in the 3rd. The match was extremely competitive with both squads boasting a number of National level athletes. Game 4 saw the Spartans shake the sleep from their eyes and the all to familiar blocking dominance was on display helping win the game 25-18. On to the 5th set and the Gaels (what is a Gael anyway) jumped out to a 4-1 lead. It would have been very easy for the Spartans to fold up and take any of the plethora of excuses available to them and hold their heads high after a valiant battle. "We were up all night", nope, "We ate too late," nope, "we didn't get a serve and pass in the new gym," nope, "we are missing our true left sides," nope, "we have 4 middles on the court," nope, "our setter is injured," nope, "we haven't practiced in 9 days," nope. None of that was heard. What was heard was the intensity of an extremely proud and competitive group as all 13 athletes joined in one voice and declared we will not go quietly into the Kingston night. The Spartans rallied and played inspired volleyball and won the set and match 15-10. It was a great character win for the Langley lads. An adage the team uses is that nothing is learned from losing. Losing reveals lessons, winning learns them. The team learned a valuable lesson that day. If the team stays together and relies upon each other they can truly accomplish anything, on and off the court. Day 1 complete and finally the Spartan could get their much deserved rest.

Day 2 was much better than day 1 from a high performance preparation stand point. The team was able to sleep in, get a good breakfast and relax during the afternoon. They had the chance to get some homework done as they are now about to miss 5 days of school during the midterm phase of the school year. The chance to alleviate some of that stress always helps athletes clear their minds to focus on the task at hand. A good pregame meal and off to the gym for the 6pm tilt versus the Western Mustangs, the team that had beaten the highly thought of Brandon Bobcats the evening before. This match had a much better feeling heading into it from a Spartan perspective. The lads were loose and focused and that carried over into their play winning the first two sets 25-21 and 25-18 respectively. The the match took a turn. The Spartans built a good lead in the third and then just lost focus. The resilient Mustangs went from trot to gallop and ran all over the Spartans claiming a 25-23 set win. TWU tried to regain focus and built a lead only to relinquish it late losing 25-23 again. For the second night in a row a tired Spartan squad had to reach deep to try to dispatch a very tenacious Mustang team Jack Black and Kyle Gas would be proud of. Unlike the night before the Spartans could not shake the 'stangs. 8-8, 9-9, 10-10, 11-11 and then it happened. Block, ace, kill...game set match and another character win for the Spartans. After the match there was nothing but respect for the Western team for battling back from down 0-2 but the Spartans were the better team and found a way again. Then it was off to bed and some more needed sleep for the short turn around and a 1pm match the next afternoon with the Brandon Bobcats in what would be a winner take all match.

Day 3 saw the Spartans in a much more normal groove. Up for breakfast, then took a tour of Fort Henry and walked around downtown Kingston admiring the old buildings. We found a novelty shop that sold a fishing game that you could play while on the proverbial porcelain toilet that a few almost purchased but the asking price of 30 bones was a little too much for an easy laugh. A picture, a joke and it was off to the gym. Brandon returned the reigning CIS player of the year from a year ago Paul Sanderson who brought a few more of his Aussie countrymen with him for the 2010-11 campaign. This Bobcat team who is widely thought to be the class of the conference this season had played well the night before and easily dispatched the Queen's team 3-0. To make the match a little more interesting the Spartans would play three freshmen in the wing hitter positions. Nick Del Bianco and Derek Thiessen manned the left side while Brandon Schmidt held down the Right. The curious looks from the Bobcat players at the younglings across the net from them and the sight of Spartan standouts Rudy Verhoeff and Josh Doornenbal standing in the sub's pen was fun to watch. Even more fun to watch was the way the young Spartans battled the Bobcats the entire set. Leading at 18 by 1 it was a slug fest to finish just shy 23-25. The young Spartan squad continued to improve their game and led again 18-17 only to lose by the same margin, 23-25. The improvement curve continued as the Spartans took an 18-14 lead and finished with a 25-21 lead and new life sprang up on the bench. Set four was another great battle as the young Spartans were showing to be the more physical team, which was a bit of a shock considering the Bobcats had a 7'1" Aussie patrolling the middle. While TWU was the more physical presence at the net the Bobcats showed their experience and they greased their way to a 25-23 set and match win. The loss was hard to swallow considering that the Spartans had multiple opportunities to win each set but one thing or another broke down to stifle their hopes. In the end it was another great experience for the tool box to be relied upon at a later date. The Spartans took the Bobcats best shot without their veterans and made almost the most of the opportunity.

With the win Brandon won the tournament but the future of the Spartans served notice that they will be tough for a long time to come. Rudy Verhoeff and setter Ben Ball received much deserved All Star recognition for their performances in the tournament. The it was off to dinner and a great night of sports watching. Phillies v Giants in the NLCS and Sunday Night Football...what more could we ask for...maybe one more win.

Go Spartans!!!