Almost a Cinderella story

Posted by admin on Mar 23, 2010 in Sports | 0 comments

Although it may seem like a long time ago, a good story always needs to be written. About a week and a half ago, the men’s Spartan volleyball team went to CIS National Championships at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops.

The tournament hosted the top eight teams in Canada for the simple prize of university glory forever. The Spartans entered as the 4th seed and played their opening round match against Queen’s University. The Spartans took the match in three sets (25-19, 25-23, 25-19) off of Steve Marshall’s 15-kills performance. The Spartans dominated the match in every possible statistical category, holding the Gales to an offensive efficiency percentage of only 26 per cent.

The win earned the Spartans a berth into the National semi-finals against the top ranked team in the tournament, Laval Rouge et Or. Laval came into the tournament having not lost a game in the Quebec conference and had made an appearance at the tournament for the past 13 consecutive years.

Overall, the Spartans were in for a battle and they got one. Laval opened the match with a first set victory over the Spartans, 25-22, led by Frederic Desbiens, who had 22 kills on the night. The Spartans then returned the favour in the second set by handing out their own 25-22 victory before allowing the Rouge et Or to take a 2-1 set lead, beating the Spartans in a close set the entire way, 25-23. Laval matched TWU’s shots all night with help from secondary offensive players Karl De Grandpre (14 kills) and Jonathan Marcoux (10 kills).

With their backs against the wall, the Spartans again battled back with a 25-23 victory in the fourth set to take the semi-final match to a fifth and deciding set. Steve Marshall (25 kills) and Marc Howatson (16 kills) refused to let the Spartans die in the fourth, which finally set up the fifth set.
In one most the most dramatic, nerve racking university sports games in recent memory, the TWU Spartans defeated the Rougue et Or 20-18 in a fifth set tie-breaking, extra points game. The win propelled the Spartans into the CIS National Championship where they would play a too familiar enemy, the
Calgary Dinos.

The Dinos had done some hard work on their side of the bracket as well, upsetting Alberta on the way to their finals appearance. Once the game started though, the Dinos played anything but nervous. The Dinos appeared calmer in the first two sets of the match, against some disputed referee calls that seemed to give them the energy the needed to defeat the Spartans in the first two sets 25-22, 25-21. Steve Marshall was sensational for the Spartans all night which allowed them to power back in the third set giving them the game in a close 25-23 nail biting, elimination set for the Spartans.

However, the volleyball gods were in favour of the Dinos on this day as they clinched their first national title in 17 years against the Spartans, 27-25, in another epic set. Coach Rod Durant of the Dinos was quoted on the CIS website as saying, “we came into this tournament knowing that we had to play our best volleyball. We got better as the tournament went on. We struggled against Dalhousie on the first night, but some guys came in and got our energy back. We simplified our play and it worked. We were underdogs against Alberta and found a way to play hard. This game was a battle as well.”

Overall it was an exciting and promising tournament for the Spartans who have already clinched a spot in next year’s CIS National Championship through hosting the event at the Langley Events Centre in 2011.