Oct 14 mvb season preview

Men’s Volleyball (Season Preview)
Thursday, October 14, 2005

The Difference is in the Details
Spartans look to complete medal set in 2005-06

LANGLEY, British Columbia - Two years, two different medals...a new year, a new season, and a third medal to complete the collection?

Trinity Western University Men's Volleyball has made an indelible impression on Canadian Interuniversity Sport over the last two seasons, achieving their first Nationals appearance in 2004 in only their fifth year in the league and collecting the bronze as their first CIS hardware, followed by their first Nationals Gold Medal Match appearance (and live national TV broadcast) last season, in 2005, that would go down in the history books as one of the longest, and greatest, gold medal battles ever. The victory would ultimately go to the Alberta Golden Bears, leaving the TWU Spartans with the silver medal and an incomplete trophy case.

The Spartans return nine of last season’s 11-man roster, and have added three transfers for some increased depth. Three of those returning players—Josh Howatson (4th yr, setter, Victoria, BC), Chris Meehan (5th yr, middle, Clearwater, BC), and Doug Van Spronsen (3rd yr, middle, Dawson Creek, BC)—were selected for the Canada Men’s National A-2 Team this summer, with all three participating in an exhibition tour of Alberta in May during which they competed against Holland. Howatson and Meehan continued with the team and were selected to play on Canada's FISU (Federation Internationale du Sport Universitaire) Games team in the Summer Universiade held in Izmir, Turkey August 11-21.* TWU Assistant Coach Ben Josephson joined Meehan and Howatson in Turkey having been selected to work alongside FISU Games Team Head Coach Keith Hansen (Red Deer College) and Assistant Brian Gavlas (University of Saskatchewan), an incredible honour considering those two coaches have a combined ten national championships between them. Although Canada finished 10th in the competition, all three Spartans gained invaluable experience they can apply to the challenges of the upcoming season.

New to the Spartan Blue and Gold this year are: Jon Zuidhof, a leftside hitter entering his third year after two years at The King’s University College. Zuidhof is no stranger to the Spartan volleyball program as both of his brothers played for Coach Pike. “He’s a pretty physical player, big and strong at 6'5", and hits the ball reasonably well,” said Pike. “He’ll have to adjust to the speed of the game a bit, but he’s got potential.”

Mark Lindemulder, a libero and transfer from TKUC, adds to the familial connections on this squad as he joins older brother Jeff in the Spartan uniform.

Andrew Hawkes, a libero from Grande Prairie Composite High School (the 2004 Alberta 4A Boys Provincial Champions), rounds out the recruiting class as the lone first-year player on the Spartans. "He’s experienced a lot of success as a young player and is a nice addition," commented Coach Pike. "He’ll definitely vie for position over the next few years."

With a team as experienced-locally, nationally, and internationally-as the Spartans are, every member is called upon to be a leader at different times. "Our system with regards to leadership is different than most," said Pike. "It operates such that each guy is responsible to bring what they've got to the group. Different situations require different leadership."

This season’s schedule and the changes in the conference will test those different leadership styles as the Spartans begin the journey toward a third consecutive appearance at the national tournament.

And for those casual fans out there who might think all roads back to the national championship lead through Alberta—you're only partially right. The Golden Bears remain the defending champions and the current best in the CIS, but are by no means the only challengers to the 2006 title; nor are the defending silver medalist Spartans. “Winnipeg and Manitoba are two very good teams with great coaches. Unfortunately, due to schedule changes [as a result of the addition of Thompson Rivers University to the Canada West Conference] we don’t get to play either of those schools this year; a fact I don’t like at all,” said Coach Pike. “The games we would normally have played against them have been replaced by four matches against TRU, a team that has potential but has not come flying out of the blocks.”

"In my estimation our major challenge is going to come from [the prairie] side of the conference. Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan are all going to be better [than last year]. We only play Saskatchewan in the regular season, and that’s why hosting the Canada West Final Four is our target right now so we guarantee ourselves a spot before we get into the playoffs." (The team with the best regular season record gets a bye through the first round of playoffs. This year the host of the Final Four is the team from the Mountain Division with the best record. All teams in the Final Four go to CIS Nationals.)

"The reality is that this year our path to that gold medal final is going to be tougher. There’s no doubt. Sport works in weird ways and you can’t predict it, but certain things happened last year and we benefited from circumstance. That could all change this year and reverse on us."

The focus for this year’s Spartans is details. The talent and desire are there, but honing their execution, and learning to make the right decisions, as well as the key plays at key times, will determine whether this battle-tested squad will complete the race as victors.

*The FISU Games are the second largest international sporting event, featuring over 7,000 participants from 170 countries. The Universiades are staged every two years-summer and winter-in a different city. FISU also organizes world championships, also held every two years.

-TW-

Last Updated: 2009-02-16
Author: Scott Stewart
Email: ssstew@twu.ca