Bobcats bounce league-leading Wesmen
Forget the task at hand, the playoff scenarios and the rest of the world.
For five magical minutes, none of it mattered to the Brandon University Bobcats.
Riley Grusing stepped back to the service line and couldn’t miss, and Philipp Lauter couldn’t either, making the correct read and stopping virtually every ball the Winnipeg Wesmen (15-3) hit.
Riley Grusing (17) and the Brandon University Bobcats celebrate a point against the Winnipeg Wesmen in Canada West men’s volleyball action at the Healthy Living Centre on Saturday. (Thomas Friesen/The Brandon Sun)
The two seniors had the most fun they possibly could on an eight-point run during their final regular season set at the Healthy Living Centre. Even better, they beat Canada West’s top-ranked team 3-1 (20-25, 25-22, 27-25, 25-22) on Saturday, improving to 8-10.
“I almost lost my voice, a lot of screaming but it was good,” said Grusing. “G (head coach Grant Wilson) talks about the game mindset where you turn your brain off and you’re just going.”
“I’m doing it because I’m enjoying it, and it doesn’t get better than this scenario,” added Lauter. “I don’t think I even have to switch off my brain, I can just play volleyball and I’m having fun the whole time.
“No scenario I can think of right now would be better. To defend home court and beat the number one team is pretty special, especially in the way we did, a real team effort.”
Brandon pulled ahead 16-15 in the first set but hit a snag, just like Friday night, with Ben Traa back to serve. The senior setter’s unassuming float serve gave BU fits as it was unable to swing hard at anything.
The Wesmen surgically put the ball away every chance they got on a six-point run to lead 21-16, then maintained the five-point lead the rest of the way.
They had 17 kills and seven errors in the set while the Bobcats tallied nine and four.
Brandon matched Friday’s total of kills by middle blockers — two — in the first set, then dominated the middle game early in the second as Philipp Lauter racked up three kills and a block to lead 12-9.
JJ Love turned and burned the Wesmen twice for kills to keep the lead, then Liam Pauls and Chris Bryant served aces to help extend it to 20-15.
Seldom ones to make life easy for themselves, the Bobcats gave away three points with weak passing before scoring a few off-speed shots to stay ahead.
Up 23-22, Brandon caught a break when Love whacked an attack log but Winnipeg was called for a net violation. Then Luke Lodewyks, who was nearly unstoppable Friday, blasted the ball into the BU bench to tie the match 1-1.
The Bobcats hit a little better than the first set and made four blocks for the second in a row.
“Just do our job, trust our system,” Grusing said. “Like we’ve said all along, we’re one of the best block defensive teams so I just was trying to do my job and put in enough pressure to get blocks. Phil was amazing.”
The third set was as thrilling as they come, with neither side leading by more than three. Traa served his side up 22-19 on a three-point run, but Kale Fisher subbed in and banged five straight spin serves to bring up set point out of nowhere.
Winnipeg tied it 24-24, but Brandon managed to side out twice and Lauter ripped an ace down the right sideline to pull ahead 2-1.
“I had some success with the float earlier in the set so I was wondering if I should do the float,” said Lauter. “But it’s my senior night so I figured I might as well go for it.”
“That’s huge but that’s what Phil does,” added Grusing. “He’s been there before and he’s done that before … No one else you’d rather have back there.”
Lauter stayed on that high, probably jumping a few more inches in the fourth set. He started a mammoth eight-point run with a kill, collecting three blocks on the last four points of the streak to lead 9-1.
However, BU came crashing down in a hurry. U of W coach Chris Voth took Traa out and Alex Krykewich led his team all the way back to a 13-12 deficit, feeding star outside Isaiah Olfert for four kills.
Winnipeg tied it 15-15 and it stayed knotted up to 19-19 when Pauls made a block, then scored back-to-back two-handed tips off hands and down.
Pauls rejected Olfert two points later to lead 23-20. BU had four match points and needed just three as Tom Friesen blasted his team-high 14th kill off libero Carson Brennan’s arms and out of play to win.
“The ‘no lead is safe’ thing has been proven all season going either direction,” Lauter said.
“We’re doing a better and better job on focusing on one point at a time, especially against a team like that, it’s what you need because they’re not giving anything for free.”
Olfert finished with a match-high 20 kills and 11 errors while Lauter had nine and one with a match-high 12 blocks. Chris Bryant tacked on four kills without a miss on five swings, adding six blocks.
Grusing recorded with six kills and seven errors, but the Bobcats still had 48 and 20 to the visitors’ 54 and 31.
BU’s third graduating player, libero Michael Flor, picked up six digs.
The Bobcats head to Kamloops, B.C., to visit the Thompson Rivers WolfPack this Friday and Saturday to close the regular season.
BU finished the weekend in eighth place at 8-10 with 23 points, but can still pass UBC Okanagan (9-9, 26 points) and Manitoba (9-11, 28 points).
They can also fall out of the playoff picture with two losses to TRU (6-12, 19 points) and at least one win by Fraser Valley (7-11, 20 points) over UBC (13-4, 40 points).
“At the end of the day that’s what the coaches are worried about,” Lauter said.
“Everything important to us is obviously celebrating for a little bit but then it’s win that next game against Thompson Rivers (on) Friday.”
» Instagram: @thomasfriesen5
