Amateur Sports

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Volleyball men gunning for gold

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By: Daniel Falloon

Posted: 08/24/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

THE members of the Manitoba men's volleyball team have several different-looking gold medals hanging in their trophy cases.

From CIS championships to Western Canada Games medals to national club trophies and high school championship banners, team members have taken home all of the above.

At the Canada Summer Games in Prince Edward Island, they're looking to take home another token of victory.

"The top five teams here, and I'd put us in that group, the differences are really small. It's going to be a tough tournament," said head coach Cam Johnson. "It could really go any way. I think we have as good a chance as any of the other teams. Hopefully some of that prior experience at the Games and in other situations will help us out."

Setter Dan Lother agreed that the Tobans should match up well against the other top teams.

"Past experiences with a lot of the guys here are very successful," said Lother, 21. "They've won national championships. We're really looking forward to the tournament, it's going to be really tough. Other provinces are just as strong, but we're really looking forward to see what this group of guys can do."

Along with Justin Duff, Lother was one of two players on Team Manitoba who won the CIS championship with the University of Winnipeg in 2007. He said that he didn't fully appreciate the victory at the time, but respect for it has grown over time.

"I was only in my first year then and pretty new to the CIS, so I didn't really realize at the time how special it was," said Lother. "A couple years later now and I'm a bit older and I realize how hard it is to win that championship. That group of guys was pretty special, so I still think back on that as I keep playing in my career."

There has been a great amount of interaction between the players on the team, said Johnson, who has coached several players before, including Lother and Marc Ross at College Jeanne Sauve, and Steve Goertzen, Kevin Stevens, Dane Pischke and Chris Voth at the 2007 Western Canada Summer Games.

"During the past five years or so, be it high school or club or university, either myself or some of the other coaches, we've been involved in a pretty intense way," said Johnson. "The relationships are there, for sure, so it's been a good summer in that sense."

The tournament is for players aged 21 and under, but the team only boasts a pair of 21-year-olds, making Manitoba one of the younger teams.

daniel.falloon@freepress.mb.ca

Medal standings

Province G S B Tot

Quebec 13 16 19 48

Ontario 21 12 12 45

B.C. 17 17 11 45

Alberta 5 4 6 15

Sask. 1 3 6 10

Nova Scotia 2 4 1 7

Manitoba 2 3 2 7

N.B. 0 2 2 4

Nfld. 0 0 2 2

N.W.T. 0 0 0 0

Nunavut 0 0 0 0

P.E.I. 0 0 0 0

Yukon 0 0 0 0

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 24, 2009 C1

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