Isis Meleshko
Volley Bears look to extend six-game win streak
Jonathan Faerber
Gateway Staff
Feb 08, 2012
The Volleyball Bears won themselves a home playoff spot against the University of Regina Cougars this weekend, with a pair of 3-0 victories at the Saville Centre guaranteeing them at least a third-place finish in the Canada West standings.
The Bears, who were missing team leader Mitch Irvine, began the tilt by outplaying the Cougars 25-23, 25-18 and 25-16 on Friday night. Despite rallying for a 30-28 finish in the final third set on Saturday, the Cougars rarely threatened the Bears, who won four out of the combined six sets against them by at least six points. The wins extend the Bears’ winning streak to six, while the Cougars have now lost nine in a row and are eliminated from playoff contention.
Head coach Terry Danyluk admitted that some of the sets were closer than he would have liked, said he was generally pleased with his team’s consistency over the two nights. Libero Erik Mattson was likewise satisfied with the Bears’ defensive display, despite the temporary difficulties his team had in keeping the Cougars at bay towards the end.
“I thought we did a pretty good job during the first two sets when we showed a lot of hustle — but then the third when they were pushing us offensively we seemed a little hesitant,” Mattson said. “At the end it came down to us putting up some key blocks to bail us out.”
With the game tied at 28, it was middle Tristan Aubry and setter Jarron Mueller who stepped up for the crucial defensive moment of the night, when they stopped Regina’s Nathan Cherwaty from scoring his team’s fourth set point and brought the total to 29-28 in the Bears’ favour. Mueller then set up Aubry with his 73rd assist of the weekend for the winning kill.
On the offensive front, left sides Taylor Hunt and Jay Olmstead led the team in points over the weekend for an impressive total of 27 and 24 kills, respectively, while rookie Ryley Barnes, standing in for the injured Irvine, had 16 altogether.
Mattson, who had nine digs and six assists in the games, realizes the Bears have to be on their guard against complacency when they travel to Manitoba this weekend — their first away weekend in two weeks — to play the Brandon Bobcats.
“Brandon’s a team we don’t know anything about, but they’re in this league coming up and we’re going to have to prepare with the video we get to see and then put together our best game plan to give us a chance of winning.
“I think if we can bring the mentality that we had against Calgary (last week) to games like that we’ll be able to consistently play very well,” Mattson added.
Danyluk also expects a tricky time this weekend against the 10-8 Bobcats.
“They’re good and they’re in the playoffs and they’re trying to play for a hosting berth too, so it’s going to be tough next weekend — we have to be ready to go against Brandon.”
Friday and Saturday’s games are at 7:45 p.m CST and can be viewed on canadawest.tv. These are the Bear’ last regular season games. Playoffs begin Feb. 17.
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