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CIS quarterfinal #4: No. 4 Bobcats score comeback win
Courtesy of U of Alberta sports information
EDMONTON - Youth was served Friday night at the 2009 CIS men's
volleyball championship as the No. 4-seeded Brandon Bobcats
overcame a two-game-to-one deficit to defeat the No. 5 Dalhousie
Tigers in five compelling sets (17-25, 26-24, 12-25, 25-21, 15-9)
in the final quarterfinal match of opening day at the University of
Alberta's Main Gym.
Championship website:
www.cisport.ca/e/championships/m_volleyball/2009
Canada West finalist Brandon, making its first CIS tournament
appearance in the program's fourth year in the league, was taking
on a men's volleyball giant in AUS champion Dalhousie. The Tigers
are in the tourney for the 30th straight year but are still without
a national title, their best result being a silver-medal finish in
1997.
The Bobcats advance to Saturday's second semi-final at 8 p.m.
Mountain Time where they will face the tournament host, top-seeded
and defending CIS champion Alberta Golden Bears, in a rematch of
last week's Canada West final won in straight sets by Alberta.
The Bears swept No. 8 UNB 3-0 in Friday's third quarterfinal. UNB
and Dalhousie will battle on the consolation side of the draw
Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
In a tournament normally dominated by Canada West schools, Brandon
and Alberta are the lone two representatives from the West
remaining on the medal side, after No. 7 Winnipeg and No.6 Thompson
Rivers were eliminated by No. 2 Laval and No. 3 McMaster,
respectively.
Australian Paul Sanderson, Brandon's hard-hitting third-year left
side, paced the Bobcat attack on opening day, as he's done all
season long, smashing a game-high 20 kills. The Melbourne native
and CIS first-team all-Canadian is one of the most lethal servers
in the nation and displayed it against the Tigers, spinning three
aces, while also collecting six digs and one block assist.
Canada West second-team all-star Joel Small, all 6-foot-8 and 185
pounds of him, banked 13 kills on 20 attempts as well as six
blocks, while setter Andrew Korol, one of two fifth-year athletes
on the Bobcat roster, racked up 45 assists, four kills and eight
digs.
"Paul has really been instrumental in getting us into the
top-level of CIS volleyball in the three years he's been with us,"
stated Brandon head coach Russ Paddock. "Teams try to key him on
him and more often than not they are unsuccessful because he's such
a dynamic player and can certainly cause problems for any team we
play."
AUS MVP Sander Ratsep led the Dalhousie offence with a 42 percent
attack efficiency, connecting on 17 kills on 31 attempts. The
first-team all-Canadian outside from London, Ont., also had one
ace, five digs and six blocks.
Fifth-year senior Daniel Murray had 16 kills in a losing
effort.
Dalhousie looked off to the races to start the match, racing out
to a 10-3 lead in the first set, eventually working their way to
23-13 and before closing it out at 25-17.
The Bobcats were better in the second stanza, earning a 14-11
lead, their largest gap to that point, but still had troubles
closing out the Tigers. Brandon found themselves at set point,
24-21, but needed extra points to win the second frame and tie the
match score.
In an almost complete repeat of the first set, Dalhousie was all
over the CIS championship tournament rookies in the third, jumping
out to a huge 16-5 lead, and seemed in control heading into the
fourth.
Brandon, however, simply shook that set off and went back to work,
using two-point leads throughout the fourth to stay ahead,
eventually winning it 25-21 when Andrew Korol made a sneaky
behind-the-back tip at the net.
"The first three sets our serve-receive game wasn't as good as it
needed to be against a team like Dalhousie, which was a result of
our anxiousness but also their aggression," said Paddock. "I
thought we settled down in the fourth and fifth sets and got the
points when we needed them."
The pattern of losing big and winning close was shattered in the
fifth set for Brandon, as they led from the get-go, owning a 6-4
advantage and sealing the deal thanks to a Sanderson ace and a
Sanderson kill for the 15-9 decision.
STATS LEADERS
Brandon
Kills: Paul Sanderson (20), Paul Robidoux (10), Joel Small
(13)
Blocks: Joel Small (6)
Digs: Cameron Blewett (9)
Assists: Andrew Korol (45)
Player of the match: Joel Small
Dalhousie
Kills: Sander Ratsep (17), Daniel Murray (16)
Blocks: Max Burt (6)
Digs: Daniel Murray (8)
Assists: Russ Lawrence (42)
Player of the match: Daniel Murray
