TWO SPARTANS HELP CANADA CLAIM VOLLEYBALL SILVER

TWU Men’s Volleyball (Junior Nationals)
Saturday, July 26, 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TWO SPARTANS HELP CANADA CLAIM VOLLEYBALL SILVER

LANGLEY, British Columbia - The Canadian men's junior national volleyball team won silver at the 2008 NORCECA Junior Men's Continental Championship in San Salvador, El Salvador from June 30-July 5, and two Trinity Western University Spartans played key roles. Rudy Verhoeff (2nd yr, Calgary) was the captain and a starter, while Marc Howatson (2nd year, Victoria) played an important role off the bench.

"Rudy and Marc were invaluable compatriots to a group of 14 athletes that all trained hard for a long period of time giving them all an example of the 'international' life," said Canadian Junior National Team head coach Chris Green. "These young men were first class athletes, people and team mates. Rudy was a leader and provided exemplary skills to his position while Marc provided us with a player who could and was relied on to play multiple roles, ready for insertion to any match at any time."

The experience for both players will certainly help them, and the Spartans, as they train for the upcoming season.

“This summer's experience for Marc & Rudy was huge for both of them and for our program,” says TWU men’s volleyball head coach Ben Josephson. “Its great to have Spartans representing our country abroad, and to have some of our young players put into that environment where they will get to compete at the top level with the best in their age class. They’ll bring a new perspective on competition, a new commitment to training both on and off court and a confidence to our young team that we will need.”

The 6'5 Verhoeff became the third Spartans middle blocker to be named captain of Canada's Junior National Team, following in the footsteps of CIS all-Canadian Chris Meehan (who played at TWU from 2001-05) and Doug Van Spronsen (2004-07).

"Rudy is a gifted young man and being named captain is a very prestigious thing,” Josephson says. "Rudy embodies many of the same qualities that Doug and Chris had and with the departure of Doug we will look to Rudy to fill some of that leadership void in the middle."

Verhoeff was the third middle in his rookie season for the Spartans in 2007/08, and was one of TWU's most improved players by season's end. His strong play carried into the summer to the junior national tryouts in Winnipeg, where he impressed the coaches so much that he was not only named a starter, but voted the team captain as well.

"Rudy encompasses what it means to be a captain by giving this team all of his abilities, and then some, day in and day out," Green said. "He is respected by the team, and is an extension of the coach both away from the court as well as on the court. He is punctual, mature, and pushes himself day in and day out. He supports his team mates and holds them accountable."

Howatson started every conference and playoff match for Trinity Western his rookie season in 2007/08. He was already well-known to the Junior National program and coaches, and he played a valuable role off the bench.

"Marc has the ability to play any position and provided us with depth,” Green said of the 6’7 outside hitter. “He is smart, and agile, and his ability to move at the net, to block and attack in any position is once again a coach's dream. Marc has very good vision as an attacker and thus can avoid the blockers or defenders at will when he attacks.”

The competition featured the best U21 aged athletes from the NORCECA (North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation) Zone. Canada competed in Group A in the preliminary round alongside the USA, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala, and host El Salvador rounded out Group B.

Canada won its first four matches of the tournament, three of them in straight sets. They took their opener against the USA 3-0 ((27-25, 25-15, 25-21), dropped the first two sets to Puerto Rico before rallying to win in five (22-25, 23-25, 25-23, 25-19, 15-11), then swept their next two matches against the Domincan Republic (25-20, 25-10, 25-21) and Mexico (25-17, 25-17, 25-13) to reach the final against undefeated Cuba.

The Canadians took the opening set 25-18, but lost the next three, including a 29-27 loss in the fourth and final frame (25-18, 20-25, 25-21, 29-27). Still, the silver medal gives Canada an automatic bid into the 2009 Junior Men’s World Championships next year.

Canada's Gord Perrin (Creston, BC, Thompson Rivers University) was awarded the Best Blocker of the 2008 NORCECA Junior Men's Championship and Ciaran McGovern (Grand Prairie, AB, University of Calgary) received the Best Setter Award.

-TW-

Last Updated: 2008-07-26
Author: Jeff Kilpatrick
Email: Jeffrey.Kilpatrick@twu.ca