CIS men's volleyball Saturday roundup: Poulin leads No. 7 Mustangs to 3-0 win over No. 10 Gryphons

Photo credit Craig Glover

York	0	Queen's	3	Final	Boxscore
KINGSTON, Ont. - The Queen's Gaels (5-4) defeated the York Lions (4-5), winning their second game in a row in straight sets, (25-20, 25-21, 25-16). Both OUA teams came into the match with identical 4-4 records, meaning that the Gaels victory tonight propelled them into 5th place in the OUA, ahead of the Lions. Joren Zeeman of Cambridge, Ont. was flying in all three sets, registering 16 kills. He also found the court on two of his jump serves, posting two aces. Middle Michael Amoroso of Toronto, captained the wall up at the net, contributing one solo block, while also marking six block assists. Libero Niko Rukavina of Mississauga, Ont. and Alex Oneid of Ottawa, Ont. were once again a defensive tandem for the Gaels with 10 and eight digs respectively. Setter Jackson Dakin of Courtenay, B.C. had a game high 34 assists for the Gaels to go along with four solo blocks and two kills. The Lions were led by Nikola Sandic of Etobicoke Ont., with 11 kills on 30 attempts. The Gaels (5-4) face off against the Guelph Gryphons (6-2) at the ARC on January 7 at 8pm. Source: Queen's Sports Info
Regina	0	Winnipeg	3	Final	Boxscore

No. 10 Guelph	0	No. 7 Western	3	Final	Boxscore
LONDON, Ont. – Mathieu Poulin led the Western Mustangs men’s volleyball team with 29 total attempts (10 kills, 4 digs) in tonight’s 3-0 win over the Guelph Gryphons at Alumni Hall. With set scores of 26-24, 25-22, and 25-19, the Mustangs head into the winter break atop the OUA and No. 7 in the CIS. The Mustangs were plagued with serving errors in the first set giving the Gryphons unearned points bringing the set to a close 25-24. Phil James (7 kills, 5 aces, 14 points) sank a floater for the final point giving the Mustangs the set 26-24. Western went up 4-0 in the second not once allowing Guelph to tie the game. Garrett May (9 kills, 11 points), Alan Screaton (5 kills, 8 points) and Mathew Waite (7 kills, 9 points) all added key attacks in the 25-22 set win. Attempting to sweep their opponents and make it two in a row and six on the season, the Mustangs had to fight off the persistent Gryphons who refused to quit. Down 20-14, the Gryphons made a valiant attempt at a comeback with a five-serve run; however, the Mustangs had a different plan and with some more great serves from James, wrapped up the match with a third set with of 25-19. Winston Rosser (12 points) and Drew Whitaker (9 points) led the attack for the Gryphons. The Mustangs will not play again at home until January when they host Ryerson (Jan. 6) and Toronto (Jan. 7). Source: Western Sports Info
No. 5 UBC	3	No. 3 Alberta	0	Final	Boxscore
EDMONTON - In a constant back-and-forth battle at the Saville Community Sports Centre in Edmonton, the No.5 UBC Thunderbirds took a well-fought straight-sets victory (25-20, 25-23, 25-23) against the No.3 Alberta Golden Bears Saturday night, splitting the weekend series and giving the two squads identical 8-2 records. Grande Prairie, AB native David Zeyha and Vancouver native Robert Bennett each had a dozen kills in the win, with rookie setter Milan Nikic adding 25 assists. Leading the Bears in the loss was fourth-year right-side Mitch Irvine, earning a match-high 18 kills, putting his total at 30 on the weekend, while third-year setter Jarron Mueller earned the match-high 38 assists. The first set was the toughest for both teams, as both squads struggled with the serve, committing five errors apiece, but Alberta combined it with seven attack errors to give the T-birds the upper hand. Although Irvine led all players with seven kills in the first set and tallied an exceptional 70% attack percentage, UBC neutralized it with a team offence of 12 kills and a single error to post a 50% attack rating before senior setter Chris Klassen served the T-birds’ lone ace to give the visitors the 1-0 set lead. On the strength of a pair of Ryley Barnes aces and a trio of attack errors by Jarrid Ireland early in the second set, Alberta found an 8-2 run to pull ahead 11-8, but could never push the gap on the scoreboard to higher than four, allowing an unrelenting UBC to counter with a 7-2 run of their own to kill any home team momentum. The T-birds then tipped the scales with a Zeyha kill to claim the second set and powered ahead in the third to get ahead by six, but the Bears roared back to reduce the deficit, only to succumb to Robert Bennett’s two decisive kills to end the see-saw affair. Alberta will journey south to California over the holidays to participate in a Los Angeles tournament before returning to conference action Jan. 13-14 against the Trinity Western Spartans on the road while UBC will host the Thompson Rivers WolfPack on the same weekend. Source: Alberta Sports Info
Saskatchewan	1	No. 8 Brandon	3	Final
BRANDON, MB – The Brandon Bobcats completed the weekend series sweep of the Saskatchewan Huskies 3-1 (20-25, 26-24, 25-14, 25-21) in a match that was highlighted by a bizarre second set. The second set included a red card to Bobcats head coach Russ Paddock, a point that was over-ruled by the head official and awarded to the Bobcats, and then 12 tie scores and five lead changes before the Bobcats took the set 26-24. That set proved to be the turning point as the Bobcats didn’t look back, taking the third and fourth sets consecutively. Sam Tuivai had a match-high 17 kills for the Bobcats, while fellow New Zealander Ben Glue finished with 15 kills and Paul Robidoux added 13 kills. Braden McLean led the way for the Huskies with 13 kills. Matthew Busse added 10 digs. Source: Brandon Sports Info
No. 1 Trinity Western	3	Thompson Rivers	0	Final	Boxscore

No. 9 UBC Okanagan	0	No. 6 Calgary	3	Final	Boxscore

CALGARY – The No. 6 Calgary Dinos squeaked out a 30-28 win in the first set, then dominated the second and third to defeat the No. 9 UBC Okanagan Heat 3-0 (30-28, 25-14, 25-14) Saturday night in the Jack Simpson Gym.

The win, the Dinos' second in as many nights over the Heat, improves Calgary's record to 7-5 on the season as they hit the December break. The loss was the seventh straight for the Heat, which falls to 3-7 in its inaugural Canada West season.

With a snowfall warning outside the Jack, the Heat went cold as the Dinos turned it up after an entertaining, back-and-forth opening set. It took the Dinos six set-point opportunities to close out UBC O in the first, but with that 30-28 win out of the way it was smooth sailing for Calgary with back-to-back 25-14 wins to wrap it up.

"The first set was good volleyball," said Dinos head coach Rod Durrant. "Both teams were able to stay in system and execute. We started to make some plays in the second set. We didn't do a great job defensively in the first, which gave them some points, but in the second and third we were able to improve our blocking and our defence really picked it up – which transferred into our attack.

"We're very pleased with the process, and happy to be where we're at. It was a good way for us to end the semester on a positive note, and it was very much our most consistent weekend of the season."

Once again it was Graham Vigrass leading the way for the Dinos with a 13-kill, five-block, 48 per cent performance. He was backed up by a strong effort by left side Chris Hoag, who put up 11 kills and six digs for the Dinos.

"Chris was very consistent, and Jay (setter Blankenau) put him in some good situations to be successful," said Durrant. "It was one of Chris' best games of the year, and we know he can play that way. We just need to see it on a match-to-match basis."

Allen Meek added eight kills, while Andrew Visser added seven for Calgary.

The Heat got another solid effort in a losing cause from Nate Speijer, while Riley McFarland put up eight kills and Greg Niemantsverdriet six. Mark Broome was successful when he got the ball in the middle, scoring five kills on his seven opportunities.

The Heat wraps up an extended eight-match road swing in its first action of 2012 with a Jan. 13-14 visit to Brandon. Calgary has a bye that weekend and returns to the floor Jan. 20-21 when the Dinos host the Saskatchewan Huskies in the Jack Simpson Gym.

Source: Calgary Sports Info