Wesmen hope to spike trend in new year

The Christmas break came in the Nick of time for the Winnipeg Wesmen.

At this time last year, the Wesmen were the talk of the U Sports men’s volleyball scene, as they surprised the country by jumping out to a 10-0 record out of the gates.

This season has been much different through 10 contests for the reigning Canada West champs. Their 4-6 record is good for a three-way tie of seventh place in the conference with the Manitoba Bisons and Calgary Dinos.

“Obviously not the record that we want right now, to be below .500, but I think there’s a lot of good things we’ve taken away, too. We’ve played some pretty strong teams,” said fifth-year middle Paxton Koop.

The wins — a pair of 3-0 decisions against Fraser Valley and two 3-1 triumphs over the Dinos — have been lopsided, and the Wesmen have been competitive in most of their losses. Save for a pair of decisive 3-1 defeats against the nation’s top-ranked UBC Thunderbirds in their final weekend series before the break, the Wesmen kept it tight while being swept by Trinity Western (1-3; 1-3) and No. 10 Saskatchewan (1-3; 2-3) last month.

“We went toe-to-toe with them,” Koop said. “We’re not getting just destroyed by these guys. We know we can play with them. It’s a matter of consistency. I think we’ve got to find consistency in the second half, so that’s what we’re really working on over the break, to hone up some skills more.”

No area more than the serve-receive game, which the Wesmen players believe has been the Achilles heel of the group. While the numbers on the surface aren’t glaring — their 0.92 service aces per set is third-worst in the conference, while their 39 service errors are tied with Alberta for the second-fewest in the conference — their untidy play in that facet has often put the Wesmen out of system on rallies.

The team has also continued to navigate the losses of all-conference outside hitter Isaiah Olfert and steady setter Ben Traa, who both graduated. Several players have been elevated into more prominent roles, while head coach Chris Voth made philosophical changes to the team’s attack in order to cater to a lineup with less star power.

“Guys in our leadership positions, we’re really challenging the guys to show up 100 per cent every single day. I wouldn’t say we’re getting complacent, but maybe — I think we kind of expected early on to just win games, because when you got a guy like Isaiah Olfert, you just throw the ball up to him, and he’s gonna make a winning play,” said Koop.

Voth attributed his program’s early inconsistencies to its late start to the pre-season, owing to his arriving home two weeks later than usual from coaching the U21 men’s national team.

Parlay the late start with the list of changes that his team underwent, and an odd schedule where the Wesmen had two bye weeks in the first half of the season, Voth knew his squad would need time to adjust.

“When the teams are so close in Canada West, it’s going to be one point here, one point there — that’s going to be the deciding factor in every set. And then, that’s going to determine the match,” Voth said.

“It’s one thing here, there, it’s not necessarily like, ‘We’re bad at this, we’re bad at that.’ Our numbers haven’t been where we want them to be consistently. And so we’re working to find that consistency. Some of it is technical, some of it is mental, but we train holistically here.”

There’s a popular saying that the volleyball season doesn’t truly start until after the Christmas break. The Wesmen hope that is the case for them, and that a second-half surge awaits. A break could be just what this team needed.

“I think that’s huge, yeah. A lot of our guys, especially, we’ve got older guys right now, including myself, who’ve had lots of injuries,” said libero Carson Brennan, who is sixth in Canada West with 1.89 digs per set.

The Wesmen are still doing their best to refine their skills throughout the holiday season.

They travel to Quebec on Dec. 27 for a four-day trip that will include several exhibition matches against the Université de Sherbrooke. Some decent play against the Vert et Or in La belle province could be just what the Red and White need before they face the winless MacEwan Griffins for a weekend set when they return from the break Jan. 9 and 10.

“Having that little bit of break time away from the athletics is definitely huge on the body and even on the mental side,” Brennan said. “Everybody struggles with their own things, so it’s huge to have a little bit of a break from all of the constant stress.”

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