Anderson, Bhatti BU’s athletes of month

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This article was published 07/12/2022 (748 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Keely Anderson steps back to the service line with one thought: Attack.

The Brandon University Bobcats outside hitter does it better than just about anyone in the country. Anderson put up 24 aces with 25 errors in November and was recognized as BU’s female athlete of the month, along with male athlete of the month, Sultan Bhatti of the men’s basketball team.

“It’s pretty cool. I definitely appreciate that people are watching and they chose me because it’s a pretty big award,” said Anderson, who also received the accolade in February last season. “I do work hard but it’s nice to see people are noticing as well.”

The six-foot-one outside hitter is second in U Sports with .79 aces per set this season. Her 31 aces and 39 errors in 39 sets puts her first in Canada West.

She didn’t get there overnight. The second-year from Outlook, Sask., said she spent a lot of her free time at Lutheran Collegiate Bible Institute working on her serve.

Since then, Bobcats coach Lee Carter has helped her by breaking her mechanics down on video and the mental side, reminding her it won’t be perfect every night.

Anderson’s still had at least three aces in seven matches.

“One thing I can always control is my serve. You get the ball and you’re behind the line, it’s just up to you to get it over,” Anderson said. “… It’s my way to attack. I’m more so thinking about where in the court I want it to be going or where at this person we’re game planning around do I want to be serving.”

Anderson jumps high and contacts the ball at the highest point possible, sending fast, knuckling float serves that passers have struggled with all season.

Some might say a player with more misses than aces is doing something wrong but when you realize a safe serve is hardly better than a miss against a tough Canada West offence, any coach would be happy to steal a point, miss a serve and repeat all night long.

The issue for Brandon (0-12) is there haven’t been a ton of highlights besides Anderson’s serve. She’s hitting .101 in her first year at left side while the team is hitting .099, just .001 off the league low.

The Bobcats have won four sets and are tied for last in the 14-team conference with Regina.

On the bright side, they have time. Their oldest players are third-years and the majority of the team can still play at least three more seasons.

“I still think we did a lot of amazing things and grew a lot as a team,” Anderson said. “We are young, we’re going to be young and learning how to play with each other. The team we were at the beginning of the semester, we were a totally different team at the end.”

BHATTI SHOOTS LIGHTS OUT

Bhatti cooled off over BU’s last four games and is now fourth in U Sports, shooting 54.8 per cent from three.

Yes, cooled off. The Montreal native was at a ridiculous 18-for-23 or 78 per cent through six games before making five of 19 against Saskatchewan and Winnipeg.

He’s still averaging a steady 13.3 points per game, but more importantly, helped the Bobcats to 7-3 and fourth in the conference standings.

“My main goal is to win games,” Bhatti said. “I don’t care about my stats really, just trying to win games so if we win and I don’t score I’m going to be happy.

“When I get my opportunity I’m going to go for it but right now, I’m good.”

The Bobcats are back in three weeks for the Wesmen Classic in Winnipeg. The draw was announced Wednesday and BU draws the Laval Rouge et Or on Dec. 28 at 2 p.m. One of Bhatti’s good friends, Steve Joseph, starts at point guard for Laval, where Bhatti lived for a year. So there’s no shortage of motivation to return from a short break at home ready to run.

“I just want to show the guys we can hoop on this side too,” Bhatti said.

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