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Monday Morning Quarterback: Volleyball Dinos earn split with No. 2 Bobcats

Andrew Bucholtz

(Credit: Calgary Dinos)

Men's Volleyball

No. 4 Dinos earn split with No. 2 Bobcats

There were three clashes between top-10 teams in men’s volleyball this weekend, and the most notable result came from the matches between the No. 4 Calgary Dinos and the No. 2 Brandon Bobcats. The teams played in Calgary Friday and Saturday night, and while the Bobcats picked up a straight-set win (28-26, 25-21, 25-21) in that first match and spoiled the Dinos’ perfect home record, Calgary struck back with a five-set (24-26, 25-21, 23-25, 27-25, 15-10) win in a thrilling back-and-forth clash Saturday.

Tim Taylor led the way for the Dinos Saturday with 17 kills, eight digs and two assists, while Alex Bader added 13 kills and 13 digs. For Brandon, Elliott Viles had 19 kills and 13 digs, while Seth Friesen had 17 kills. Friday’s match saw Viles notch 20 kills and eight digs for the Bobcats, while Taylor had 13 kills and six digs for the Dinos.

Another top-10 clash saw the No. 1 Trinity Western Spartans on the road against the #9 Manitoba Bisons in a rematch of last year’s Canada West final (which TWU won in five sets at Manitoba). On Friday, the Spartans picked up a four-set win, losing the first set 25-19 before bouncing back to win 25-16, 25-20, 25-18. Eric Loeppky had 22 kills for TWU and added seven blocks (one solo and six assisted), while Pearson Eshenko had eight kills and seven blocks (one solo and six assisted). On Saturday, the Spartans again won in four sets (27-25, 25-20, 22-25, 25-20) for their eleventh-straight victory, sparked by a career-high 56 assists from setter Adam Schriemer and 21 kills from Loeppky. Scott Vercaigne had 18 kills for Manitoba in the loss.

The final top-10 clash of the weekend saw the No. 3 UBC Thunderbirds face the No. 6 Winnipeg Wesmen, picking up a four-set win (25-21, 22-25, 25-21, 25-23) Friday and a straight-sets win (25-20, 25-22, 25-21) Saturday. Winnipeg was shorthanded thanks to injuries to David Bommersbach and Taylor Howe, which saw fifth-year libero Logan Brennan pressed into a regular attacking role Friday. He finished with seven kills on 18 attempts with two errors, impressive considering he only previously had one career kill, but the 5’11’’ Brennan later told Wesmen Atletics' David Larkins he focused too much on attacking and not enough on helping out defensively:

"I think the only word to describe it is fun, going out there and just trying to help our team score points. I'm a little guy, so I'm not going to do great at those skills, but unfortunately my job was to pass the ball tonight and maybe got caught up in the other stuff too much."

After Saturday’s loss, middle blocker Ethan Duncan told Larkins the Wesmen aren’t dwelling on their struggles against UBC, but moving forward to prepare for next week’s crosstown battle with No. 9 Manitoba:

"We're gonna wipe away this weekend, we're gonna forget about it," Duncan said. "We've seen Manitoba twice already, so we know how they play, we know how we play. This weekend's completely done with. We'll focus on Manitoba."

Women’s basketball

Big wins for No. 2 Martlets, big losses for No. 7 Gaels

There were a couple of big women’s basketball clashes this weekend, including the No. 2 McGill Martlets playing two games against the No. 8 Concordia Stingers and the No. 4 Carleton Ravens taking on the No. 7 Queen’s Gaels. On Thursday, McGill came up with a 70-55 road victory, with all five of the Martlets’ “Fab Five” starters reaching double digits in points. Frederique Potvin led the way with 18 points and four rebounds, while Alex Kiss-Rusk had 10 points and 15 rebounds and Marie-Love Michel had 10 points and 13 rebounds. The Martlets controlled the glass in this one, picking up 19 offensive rebounds to 10 from the Stingers and 47 overall rebounds to Concordia’s 36, and that helped them pick up their first road win against the Stingers since February 13, 2016.

Saturday’s 63-51 McGill win at home saw Kiss-Rusk notch her eighth-straight double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds and Potvin add 15 points, five assists and four rebounds. For Concordia, Coralie Dumont posted 13 points and six rebounds, while Ashley Moss had eight points and 11 rebounds. Those games both saw teams wearing pink “Shoot For The Cure” uniforms as part of the U SPORTS-wide annual fundraiser, with Concordia donning those Thursday and McGill wearing them Saturday.

The Ravens-Gaels game Friday was also notable, with Carleton coming away with a 49-39 road win in a rematch of last year’s OUA championship. Elizabeth Leblanc led the way for Carleton with 16 points, five rebounds and two blocks, while Catherine Traer added 14 points, seven rebounds and five steals. For Queen’s, Marianne Alarie had a team-high 11 points and four rebounds, but only connected on four of 20 field-goal attempts, while Emma Ritcey added eight points, five rebounds and five assists. The Ravens then beat York 68-62 on the road Saturday to improve to 14-0 on the year, while the Gaels fell 61-53 to the Ottawa Gee-Gees Saturday.

Men’s hockey

No. 3 Varsity Reds edge No. 1 X-Men, No. 4 Huskies win a pair over No. 9 Bisons 

There were plenty of high-profile matchups in U SPORTS men’s hockey this week, with the No.3 University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds’ clash with the No.1 St. Francis Xavier X-Men Saturday particularly standing out. UNB’s Stephen Anderson scored in the first period there, but Michael Clarke responded for the home team in the third. After a scoreless overtime, the game went to a shootout, and after goals from the X-Men’s Cole MacDonald and the Varsity Reds’ Dylan Willick, Alexandre Goulet scored the winner to give UNB a 2-1 victory. Chase Marchand made 41 saves for StFX in a losing cause.

Earlier in the weekend, Friday saw StFX beat the UPEI Panthers 5-2 and UNB beat the Dalhousie Tigers 6-3. The No. 4 Saskatchewan Huskies also played a pair of high-profile matchups this weekend at home against the No. 9 Manitoba Bisons, winning 6-2 Friday and 4-1 Saturday. Parker Thomas had an interesting weekend for Saskatchewan, scoring the first goal 51 seconds in on Friday and the final goal with 45 seconds left Saturday. Michael Sofillas also picked up goals in both games for the Huskies, while Jesse Forsberg had three assists in the first game and a goal and two assists in the second game.

Women’s volleyball

No. 10 Martlets upset No. 2 Carabins

We saw a remarkable result in Quebec volleyball this weekend, with the No. 10 McGill Martlets taking down the No. 2 Montreal Carabins in straight sets. McGill won close first and second sets 25-23 and 25-21, then really pulled away in the third set with a 25-10 victory. The story of the night for Montreal was about errors, as the Carabins committed 23 errors against just 26 kills on 84 attempts, hitting just .036 on the night. By contrast, McGill notched 25 kills with 10 errors on 75 attempts, a .200 hitting percentage. Claire Vercheval and Elisabeth Perrault each had seven kills for the Martlets, with four and three service aces respectively, while Marie-Alex Bélanger had nine kills for the Carabins. This was also McGill’s “Dig For The Cure Night,” part of their efforts to raise funds for the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation.

Men’s basketball

No. 8 Voyageurs best No. 10 Rams thanks to Grey triple-double

The No. 8 Laurentian Voyageurs came up with a win in a high-profile home clash against the No.10 Ryerson Rams Friday, picking up an 88-83 win. Ryerson led 47-39 at the half and 63-56 entering the fourth quarter, but Laurentian outscored them 32-20 the rest of the way. Kadre Gray recorded a triple-double for the Voyageurs, notching 26 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds, while Nelson Yengue chipped in 18 points and 12 rebounds. Manny Diressa shone for the Rams with 32 points and eight rebounds.

Both teams picked up wins Saturday, with Laurentian beating the University of Toronto Varsity Blues 101-82 behind 32 points from Gray and the Rams besting the Nipissing Lakers 89-79.

Women’s hockey

No. 8 Gaels down No. 10 Badgers, but fall to Rams

A notable women’s hockey clash this weekend saw the No. 8 Queen’s Gaels best the No. 10 Brock Badgers 3-0 at home Friday night. It was a nice bounce-back win for the Gaels, as they lost two games on the road last weekend against the Nipissing Lakers and Laurentian Voyageurs. Queen’s took an early lead in this one thanks to Katrina Manoukarakis tipping home a point shot from Jessica Wakefield:

In the second period, Wakefield scored the second goal for Queen’s, and Addi Halladay added an insurance goal late in the third period. Stephanie Pascal made 24 saves for the shutout victory. But things didn’t go as well for the Gaels on the road Saturday night, as they fell 4-3 to the Ryerson Rams.

Track and field

Lancers and Varsity Blues shine at Can-Am Classic, Laval teams top Rouge et Or Invitational

There were plenty of track and field events this week, with the University of Windsor-hosted Can-Am Classic particularly standing out. The host Lancers turned in plenty of impressive performances, with Kelsey Balkwill having a particularly strong meet. Balkwill helped the women’s 4X200 meter team win gold Friday night with a 1:40.2 time, and she then claimed an individual gold in the 300 metres Saturday with a a team and meet record time of 37.99. That time gave her an automatic qualification berth into the national championships in March, which Windsor will also be hosting. Another automatic qualification result for the Lancers came from Rachel Wolfs, with a 4.05m pole vault that placed her second in the meet. And another strong Windsor showing came from Leanna Garcia, who placed second in women’s shotput with a throw of 12.49m (behind teammate Beth Kester, who posted a 12.86m mark) and first in the weight toss with a mark of 14.36m.

The Can-Am Classic also saw the University of Toronto Varsity Blues pick up some impressive results. Some of their gold results included the 4X400 women’s team (who posted a time of 3:50.58), Ezana Debalkew in the men’s weight throw (with a mark of 15.14m), A.J. Bimm in the men’s 600m (1:22.00), Madeleine Kelly in the women’s 1000m, the 4X400 men’s relay team (3:22.70), and Jack Berkshire in the men’s 300m (35.18).

Another notable track and field event this weekend was the Rouge et Or Invitational at Laval, where the hosts won on both the women’s and men’s sides with 150 and 179 points respectively, with McGill and Carleton finishing second on those sides respectively. Some Laval winners included Genevieve Gagne in the women’s 60m hurdles (with a time of 9.22 in the finals), Nomie Jeffrey in the women’s weight throw (16.61m), Vincent Dugay in the men’s 600m run (1:20.70), and the women’s 4X800m relay team, who set a school record and qualified for nationals:

Other track and field events this week included the Moncton Open in New Brunswick and the Sled Dog Open in Saskatoon.

Wrestling

Cougars beat Pandas in dual meet and Golden Bear Invitational, Bears win on men’s side

The key wrestling action this week took place at the University of Alberta around their Golden Bear Invitational, and it saw some surprising results on the women’s side. The Regina Cougars first downed the No. 2 Pandas in a pre-invitational dual meet Friday, winning 23-13, then claimed the tournament title with 40 points Saturday, narrowly edging out the Saskatchewan Huskies (37) and the host Pandas (32).

On the men’s side, the Golden Bears won their own tournament with 59 points, while Saskatchewan placed second with 45 and the University of the Fraser Valley Cascades were third with 28. All three Bears’ wrestlers who were top-ranked in their individual weight classes earned gold medals, including Jason Wong (54 kg), Melvin Arciaga (57 kg), and Aidan McKeage (76kg). On the women’s side, a surprising result came from Regina’s Inga Hammer, who wasn’t ranked in the top eight in the 72 kg class but managed to emerge with gold.

Swimming

Varsity Blues beat Mustangs in dual meet

The University of Toronto Varsity Blues came out with wins on both the men’s and women’s side in a dual meet with the Western Mustangs, winning 356-279 on the women’s side and 355-263 on the men’s side. 2017 world champion and world record holder Kylie Masse particularly shone on the women’s side, winning the 50m freestyle (25.14), 100m freestyle (54.52) and 200m backstroke (2:06.66). Osvald Nitski won the 200m butterfly (2:00.17), 200m freestyle (1:53.43) and 400m freestyle events (3:58.70) on the men’s side. Rachael Parsons and Hannah Genich both picked up two wins each on the women’s side, with Parsons winning the 100m (1:10.35) and 200m (2:33.33) breaststroke events, while Genich took the top spot in the 200m butterfly (2:12.24) and 400m freestyle (4:16.54). And Eli Wall earned two wins on the men’s side, claiming both the 100m (1:02.16) and 200m (2:16.05) breaststroke events.

Social media post of the week

Thoughts from Bisons’ alum David Onyemata on Saints’ loss

The Manitoba Bisons have been doing a cool Twitter feature recently, checking in with football alum David Onyemata, who now plays for the New Orleans Saints. The Saints suffered a heartbreaking 29-24 last-play loss to the Minnesota Vikings in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs Sunday, but Onyemata had an impressive game, with two tackles,three quarterback hits, and a role in a blocked punt:

Despite the loss, Onyemata still took the time to share some thoughts afterwards:

That’s a hard loss for Onyemata, but it’s cool to see him doing well on the field, and still open to talking with those from his former school off the field.

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Andrew has been covering university sports in Canada since 2005 at outlets such as The Queen's Journal, The CIS Blog, and Yahoo Canada, where he also served as the editor of the Canadian football blog 55-Yard Line. He has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree from Queen's University with a major in history, and currently works as a staff writer and editor for Awful Announcing and The Comeback.