Yifeng Liu

Volley Bears rock weekend with wins

Bears squeak by against Dinos but points leaders Olmstead and Irvine bring game around to continue four-game win streak

The atmosphere was electric at the Saville on Saturday as the volleyball Bears completed a weekend sweep against Calgary to clinch a spot in the Canada West playoffs.

The 3-1 and 3-0 wins were a lot closer than they looked on paper, especially as the Bears trailed the Dinos in the first two sets on Saturday before staging late come-backs to win each set 27-25.

The wins marked the Bears’ first home appearance in 2012. With the exception of a poor second set — a 20-25 decision — the Bears dominated play throughout on Friday, winning their three sets 25-18, 25-17, and 25-22.

Saturday’s game, however, was a tense affair that kept the crowd on the edge of their seats and then brought them to their feet when the Bears negated a five-point deficit to pull even at 25 in the second set, and then ahead, courtesy of two successive attack errors by the Dinos.

The losses were hard on Calgary, whose starting setter and second in assists Canada-wide, Jay Blankeneau, missed the game due to injury. And although the Dinos’ number four position in the Canada West standings guarantees them a post-season berth in playoffs, the weekends’ results means they now have little chance of passing the number-three ranked Bears, and no chance at hosting playoffs.

Bears head coach Terry Danyluk, although quick to concede that Blankeneau’s absence was felt, noted that the shift in the game dynamic was not always to Alberta’s advantage.

“(Playing without Blankeneau) caused them some confusion. Their confusion, I thought, caused us some confusion. It was a really unconventional system that they were running and we adapted to it at times and at other times we were scrambling too much.”

Scrambling, although perhaps harsh, does describe the early minutes of Saturday’s match, where the Bears quickly fell behind 3-0 and struggled to adjust to Calgary’s offence before Danyluk called a timeout with Alberta trailing 4-9.

Soon afterwards, left and right sides Jay Olmstead and Mitch Irvine, who led in points on Friday with 18 and 11 respectively, began to deliver, with a 15-15 game leveller from Irvine — a deep kill from the back row. Olmstead then provided four successive kills to tie the game first at 22, then 23, and finally 24. Another kill by Irvine to bring the scores level at 25 and two Dino attack errors decided the set in Alberta’s favour.

Olmstead, who was once again a game leader with 16 kills, credited an impressive team display for the two wins, noting that the Bears have worked hard since their last home game — their only home loss of the season — to avoid repeating the result.

“Our blocking stability this weekend was a lot better, we also played defence a little bit better around it. It just comes with time,” he said. “I think we’ve just improved as a team a lot.”

Danyluk also said he noticed an improvement and emphasized the need to be ready to host the University of Regina Cougars this weekend.

“I think our determination on defence has to improve. Our serving still needs to improve,” Danyluk said, referring to Friday’s 17 service errors. “We have to find the fine line between serving in and also serving tough enough.”

Olmstead added that the Bears’ next goal is hosting the playoffs.

“We really want to focus now on getting the highest ranking possible — we’ve got two weekends left and it’s really important that we prepare for those well.”

The Bears take on the Regina Cougars this Friday and Saturday at the Saville Community Sports Centre. The games against the Cougars will be the last time the Bears play at home in regular season play.

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