MEN’S VOLLEYBALL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RECAP

Day 1

Cascade roll over Thunder

The University of the Fraser Valley Cascades defeated the Algonquin Thunder 3-0 (25-22, 25-17, 25-21) in the opening match of the 2009 Canadian Colleges Athletic Association men's volleyball championship at Keyano College on Thursday.

The Cascades cruised to the straight set victory, never looking threatened by Algonquin's attack.

"It was a great start," said Cascades coach Greg Russell. "Looks like there was no real nerves at all. We executed what we talked about. It was great to see."

The Thunder and Cascades met in the bronze medal match of the 2007 CCAA finals. Algonquin took home the medal in a very competitive five sets. For the some of the Cascades players, today's result was vindication.

"We had six or seven guys on the team two years ago," said Russell. "We went 16-14 with them in the fifth set. It was definitely in our minds."
Fraser Valley stormed out to quick leads in the first and second sets. The Thunder were unable to match pace and were forced to play from behind for the majority of the contest, something the Ontario Colleges Athletics Association champions were not familiar with.

"The reality is there's a difference in the conference they play in and we play in," said Thunder coach Max Larrivee. "They play at this level the whole year. B.C. was a really tight, competitive league. Our league was much weaker.
"Our guys had a hard time adjusting to this level over the period of one match. That was the difference in the end. You have to give credit to UFV, they were quicker to the ball than we were in every situation."

"We came out firing," said CCAA All-Canadian Derek Fletcher. "[Algonquin's] a great team I just don't think they were pushed too much all year. We came out serving hard, a couple of our guys got some serving runs and we dug the ball really well tonight."

Fletcher led all players with 12 kills. Jonathan Sloane paced the Thunder with 10. Daryl Wiebe had seven service aces for the Cascades. "They made us uncomfortable," said Larrivee. "We started thinking way beyond the point we were playing or thought about what happened before. We had to slow things down and we didn't."

The Thunder played a much better third set and were in a position to try and force a fourth set. A suspect carry call and a blown call on a block ended Algonquin's chances.

"We lost the match, we got beat," said Larrivee. "[But] we had one opportunity to get back into the match, and it was taken away from us. The outcome of the third set wasn't decided by the players, but, that's part of the game. UFV scored 73 of 75 on their own."

Algonquin will face the Seneca Sting on Friday, while Fraser Valley will move on to face the Grant MacEwen Griffins on the gold medal side of the bracket. The Thunder defeated the Sting 3-0 on Feb. 27 for the gold medal in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association finals.
Despite the loss, Larrivee is still optimistic about Algonquin's chances.

"A measure of a team is the way they respond to a beat," he said. "It's the way they get back up, dust themselves off and come back and play at the level of play we feel we wanted to demonstrate to the rest of Canada.

"It's character-building time. This is where character is revealed and this is where we see how guys adjust and respond to adversity. Nothing is decided."

MacEwan 3 - Seneca 2 (25-13, 25-16, 30-32, 21-25, 15-7)

Day 2
March 13 • Lucas Timmons, The Algonquin Times
It wasn't the prize they came to the tournament looking for, but the bronze medal is one step closer for the Algonquin Thunder.

The Thunder defeated the Sting 3-0 (25-15, 25-15, 25-20) and are two wins away from a bronze medal at the 2009 Canadian Colleges Athletic Association men's volleyball championship.

Algonquin was led by the amazing serving of Jonathan Sloane. He sent five aces over the net and added seven kills and three blocks.

"It's definitely unbelievable," Sloane said. "I don't think I've served that well in my entire life."
"The talent is there," said Thunder coach Max Larrivée. "[Jonathan] just needs to know what makes him perform at this best. Today was an example; he knew how he could elevate his game and that's what he did. It was a very solid performance on his part."

Charlie Hamilton led all players with 11 kills for the Thunder. Brian Archibald paced the Sting with nine.

Algonquin dominated the battle at the net, out powering Seneca on blocking. The Sting finished the contest with only one stuff block.

"It's our game," said Larrivée. "We are the most physical team in this tournament; we just didn't show it as much yesterday. It was the plan against Seneca to overwhelm them."

"It seemed like every set we were right with them until 10-15 then we just fell apart," said Sting power hitter J.R. Sapienza. "They played a pretty good game. I think at times we could have won this game; we just didn't take advantage of it."

"We just didn't bring our game," said Sting coach Shane Timms. "It's been the difference all weekend, more or less."

Larrivee was pleased with how his team responded after yesterday's loss.
"Kudos to our guys to come back after a tough loss," Larrivée said. "This is where character is revealed, after losses like that. The guys revealed solid character and the desire to play quality volleyball."

Algonquin will face the loser of tonight's CEGEP Limoilou vs. Keyano College match in the bronze medal qualifier on Saturday. In either case, Larrivée is excited for the challenge that lies ahead.

"Keyano is a super experience for our guys," said Larrivee, "considering the crowd and the spirit and that they have the most talented athlete in the gym too."

"Limoilou is a volleyball machine. [They are] the total opposite of us in the sense that they control the ball perfectly, they have a super pace and they're a little less physical. They're a well-oiled machine, so it's a super test. We aspire to be at the level that they play."

Day 3

Bronze Medal Qualifier
The Algonquin Thunder defeated the hometown Keyano Huskies (25-24, 25-20, 25-19) to qualify for the bronze medal final at the 2009 Canadian Colleges Athletic Association men's volleyball championship.

The Thunder will face the Camoson College Chargers at 5:00 pm.

Algonquin controlled every aspect of the match right from the start. Setter Costa Solanakis, scored back-to-back aces, two of his seven total, on Algonquin's first two serves and additional strong serving from Adam Gane put the Thunder up by seven early. The Huskies never closed the gap closer than five.

"Right from the start they were just more consistent and they just didn't let up," said Mitch Schreider. "They kept the pressure on all game." Algonquin coach Max Larrivée expected the quick start.

"We came out storming out of the gate every bloody match we have played this year with the exception of the quarter final," Larrivée said.

Algonquin played a solid side out game in the second set, stealing points where they could. The only time in the match the Thunder trailed was staring the third set, where they were down 1-0.

"We just couldn't get into our groove," said Schreider. "We couldn't do what we do best. We just couldn't find our game, they found theirs for sure."

Charlie Hamilton led the Thunder with 18 kills and Ryan Debruyn added 14 of the team's 42 total. Alwyn Piche led Keyano with 14 kills.

"They were serving aggressive and passed very well today," said Huskies coach Trent Mason. "Their big bangers just got out there and swung hard." Hamilton downplayed his performance after the game. "I got a lot of help form the setter," he said. "Everyone on the back row played really well, we passed amazingly."

"Charlie embodies what this team is," said Larrivée. "He's growing up and maturing into a man as this season goes. He was outstanding. It was directly related to his state of mind and his approach to the game and the way he believed in his abilities and didn't question them or fight them."

Larrivée called the team's performance the best so far, but lamented that it didn't happen in earlier.

"We're a young team that matures really fast," said Larrivée. "The guys now understand the approach you need to have in a championship at this level. It's just unfortunately that it took a loss in the quarterfinals [to realize it]."

The Thunder will take the afternoon to prepare for the bronze medal showdown.

"We don't expect anything different in the bronze medal [game]," said Larrivée. "We've seen Camosun play thought this [tournament] and the B.C. finals. We know what they do, we just need to confirm the tendencies a little bit." He believes that his team is ready to take the final step.

"They know what they are doing on the court," he said. "They don't need the coach anymore. They just need the coach to guide them tactically but for execution, they know what they are doing.

Bronze Final
After both teams won 3 set matches this morning they had to prepare quickly to play again at 5 local time for the bronze. The Chargers came storming out and took the opening 2 sets by identical 25-19 scores. In the 3rd set however, the Thunder raised their game considerably hitting and serving with authority. They took the 3rd 25-15 and were full value for the score. In the 4th Coach Parkinson called a timeout and spoke to the guys about raising their game in response. He told them, "Look guys, they're bigger and stronger than us and we're not going to win unless we play smarter than them. We need to keep their hits in play and instead of trying to bury our hits and getting blocked we need to start aiming for deflections off their hands." The boys clawed their way back and took the 4th and the match 25-20 and 3-1.

Brent Hall was player of the game for the Chargers leading the way with 17 kills, 2 blocks, 2 aces and 6 digs. Libero, Josh Coutts had an outstanding game making several seeming impossible saves. Another highlight of the match also came in the 4th set when Algonquin coach Maxim Larrivee asked the officials to overrule a line call, ultimately giving the Chargers a point with the Chargers trailing by 5 at the time. The Chargers then went on a roll and stormed back to close-out the match.

Game 11 - Seneca 3 - UNBSJ 1 (25-10, 27-29, 25-11, 25-23)

Awards
Ryan Dubruyn, Algonquin: First Team CCAA Championship All-star
Costa Solanakis, Algonquin: Second Team CCAA Championship All-star