Golden Bears volleyball faces NCAA competition
"They played better volleyball than us in every area," Daviduik says.
Marcus Viray-Hebrada The Golden Bears volleyball team started the new year by losing to the Lewis University Flyers in a 3-0 sweep.
“There wasn’t much I liked about today, honestly,” head coach Brock Daviduik said.
“Serve and block are the biggest ones for us. I think we got to continue to refine all of our areas today. We didn’t do anything really well, but those are areas that we have the opportunity to grow in.”
Typically, service errors are acceptable under the premise that your serves are agressive and go out the back with good spin. But that’s not what happened on Saturday, January 4.
“We didn’t serve tough, we just served bad,” Daviduik said.
The Bears got it together in the only set that didn’t count
Despite the brutal sweep early in the game, the Bears made a comeback in a friendly fourth set. It’s a shame that it counted for nothing, except development. Jacob Sargent came back with his usual power presence and made the tough serves Davidiuk was looking for all game.
“Sargent started to figure out his toss. And again, when it’s the fourth set, when pressure’s off, it’s easier to do things like that. He eventually did figure out his serve, but he just figured it out too late.”
He’s not wrong. But the pressure that comes along with playing a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) school will do that to a player, and a team.
When asked about the level of competition faced by an NCAA school, the answer was simple.
“They played better volleyball than us in every area,” according to Daviduik.
Of course he’s talking less about the Flyers’ performance and more about the sub-par effort from his own team. This excludes Luke Weddell, Jarvis Page, and Isaac Heslinga, who all played an “efficient game.”
“Our offence is quite efficient,” Daviduik says
“Luke’s really spent a lot of time in becoming an elite setter. The trickle down effect in our offence is quite efficient. Having Isaac on the team makes our offence very efficient,” Daviduik said.
Heslinga, who leads Canada West with 207 kills, has become the highest ranked spike leader at 4.93 kills per set. And despite his team’s upset, he played a smart game, leading the team, yet again, with 12 kills.
When paired with third-year setter, Weddell, who sits third in Canada West for assists, the two combine for the Bears’ most effective plays.
But don’t discount the Bears’ first-year setter, Page. He pushed the team in their third set effort and led the group for their stolen fourth. Page might get more playing time, as the Bears face an interesting schedule leading up to the Canada West playoffs. If Daviduik feels they can start.
A mixed level of competition will test the Bears
“Pretty much in every single position, whoever’s on the bench for setter, libero, middle, left, right, that person can start for us,” Daviduik said.
“My philosophy isn’t really like that — to put guys in against lower ranked teams. I’m not opposed to that. But there’s a lot of context that goes into that decision.”
Though as the team goes on to play Mount Royal at the end of the regular season, there’s a little less pressure from a lower-ranked team. The same cannot be said for next weekend, when the Bears, Canada West leaders, play Trinity Western, a top five team.
Similarly to the University of British Columbia, Trinity Western might prove to be the biggest challenge for the Bears in conference play.
