BU MIDTERM: Young Bobcats swept out of playoff contention

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This article was published 13/12/2022 (645 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The semester had all the makings of a disaster.

The Brandon University Bobcats lost five starters to graduation and professional contracts after going 9-7 in the weakest division of Canada West women’s volleyball. A potential star outside hitter, Taryn Hannah, transferred home to the Saskatchewan Huskies.

Then setter Tielle Hagel suffered a herniated disc in the pre-season and didn’t play a regular-season point as Brandon went 0-12 and sits tied for last with an incredibly tough second half ahead.

“We’re getting better, we just got to find consistency,” said Bobcats head coach Lee Carter. “The team works really hard and they do all the right stuff, it’s just a matter of everybody showing up on the same day at the same time and it just hasn’t happened yet. It’s part of the growing process with young players.”

We begin our Bobcats midterm reports with a women’s volleyball team still a few years from competitive.

SOPHOMORE STRUGGLE

Looking back, BU had players that could have been fourth- and fifth-years starting this season but continuously left early.

The result is a lineup with two third-years, middle blocker Danielle Dardis and libero Brianne Stott, four second-years and rookie Marly Pellerin, who spent a year-and-a-half at UBC but didn’t play.

The Bobcats won their first two sets of the season at Thompson Rivers, then lost 36 of the next 38, many of them in blowout fashion.

BU is in the bottom two in Canada West in hitting percentage (.099), kills per set (8.70), blocks per set (1.26) and digs per set (11.43). It is second in aces per set at 2.33, with Keely Anderson accounting for more than a third as she’s second in the country with .79.

On the other hand, their potential comes out in glimpses. Anderson and right side Avery Burgar can pound the ball and left side Syree Tucker has been solid on defence and in serve receive.

Carter likens the down year to planting seeds.

“When you plant seeds you need to water it, then there’s a muddy phase and then you got to rely on the light and the sun before it can grow,” he said. “We’re in the muddy phase and we need everyone to bring the light and be each others’ sun … instead of getting caught in the muddy phase.”

The Bobcats didn’t assign a captain to start the season. While Burgar leads statistically with 110 kills and a .125 hitting percentage and Anderson has a team-high 130 points — 89 kills, 31 aces, four solo blocks and 12 block assists — there isn’t a true veteran leader or go-to player on this team yet.

Second-year setter Carly Thomson is still figuring out the U Sports game after transferring from the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference this year. And the team only has one setter for practice since emergency backup Brooklyn Pratt is out for the year with a torn ACL. That limits the team’s ability to scrimmage.

“(Thomsons’s) kind of been thrown to the wolves and I think she’s worked really hard, she watches video every week with us, she’s doing all the stuff to try and make us better and she takes it personally when we’re not scoring,” Carter said.

“She’s worked really hard and will be really good.”

TECHNICAL ISSUES

The Bobcats are scoring just fine when they pass well or force opponents to play free balls over. They’ve had success with Dardis and Pellerin in the middle and drawing one-on-one situations for the outside hitters to hammer away.

But getting there has been a problem.

“The game is played out of system,” Carter said.

“… When we’re out of system, that’s when we fall into the negatives. We make a lot of unforced errors when we’re trying to attack the ball when the ball’s coming from over our shoulder or really deep in the court.

“That part is important and also starts with the first contact. The more digs we can keep in our side in situations that our setter can get to and more receptions that are high enough that we can run a middle and outside together. First contact is something we need to become better at but it takes time and reps. Then learning to score out of system.”

The Bobcats have given up 94 aces while digging fewer balls than anyone besides Regina (0-12).

MOVING FORWARD

The infamous Jim Mora press conference comes to mind. The former Indianapolis Colts coach was asked about his team’s playoff hopes and responded, in part, “playoffs? I just hope we can win a game.”

It isn’t even about that for Brandon right now. The upcoming slate is at UBC Okanagan (6-6), at Regina, home against Calgary (9-3) then Saskatchewan (6-6), at Mount Royal (8-4) and home against Trinity Western (12-0).

There’s a three-way tie for the last two playoff spots at 6-6, so 10 wins might not be enough to qualify. Of course, the post-season will be full of senior starters on teams years ahead of the curve Brandon’s on. It’s going to take a resilient group willing to lose a lot now and likely a fair bit next year to catch up.

“Our goal is to develop humans and get better as a group,” Carter said. “We can really fight for our culture this semester. We can really reward people who are working really hard and doing things.

“Of course, you want to win every possible game. Nobody’s more competitive than me, I die when we lose and I’m sure our girls are the same way. Coaches recruit like-minded athletes, they tend to, right? We need to continue to believe and know that next year’s going to be better and trust that we’re going to be there.”

The Bobcats are off to Edmonton the final week of December to play Laval, Calgary and Regina as well as a scrimmage against McGill and Alberta before travelling straight to Kelowna, B.C., to scrimmage UBC Okanagan and Thompson Rivers, then start the second semester on Jan. 6.

“Now we start fresh,” Carter said. “… Everybody will play a lot. It will be fun for our young players who really played a supporting role to get a chance to actually start a match. We’re playing the Dinos, we’re going to start our Calgary girls against them.

“Same thing when we play the Regina team, we’re going to play our Saskatchewan kids.”

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