Wesmen earn spot in Canada West women’s volleyball quarterfinals

This time, the moment wasn’t too big for the Winnipeg Wesmen.

One night after the young squad was taught a harsh lesson about putting away a playoff match, the Wesmen put those learnings into action as they executed a 3-0 (25-22; 25-20; 25-16) rout of the Calgary Dinos in a series-clinching Game 3 of the Canada West women’s volleyball play-in series at Duckworth Centre on Saturday.

The night prior, Winnipeg had relinquished a two-sets-to-one lead and was up once again 8-5 in the fifth set, but lost 10 of the next 13 points to fall in a heartbreaker.

The bounce back was emphatic. The Wesmen cruised for stretches on this night, but more importantly, it was what they did any time the momentum hung in the balance — they grabbed it back in an instant.

“We were better today because of what we went through yesterday, and that’s a learning experience for everybody to have to go through that,” head coach Phil Hudson said of his team, which is led by many first-time starters. “You can talk about the pressure. You can talk about being in games that are so close — like set four and set five last night — but until you actually go through it and experience it first-hand, it was a great feeling for the girls tonight to be able to handle the pressure and stress.”

That was no clearer example than in the final set of Game 3. The Wesmen built an early lead only for the Dinos to tie the frame at 10-10. The sides exchanged points, taking the lead momentarily only for the score to be knotted back up again through 14-14.

Winnipeg finally broke through, scoring 11 of the next 13 points to secure the victory.

“That’s volleyball. Momentum is a massive thing,” said third-year outside Megan Kendziora, whose six kills and five digs were modest in comparison to her actual impact on the court. “I think we saw that in our third set a little bit. We had a lead, then we started to die down. But (Friday’s) match really showed us where we need to utilize our strengths when we’re in a bit of a rut, and how to get out of it a bit faster. So I think that definitely helped a lot and secured us a 3-0 win tonight.”

Brooke Duncalfe, who got out of the gates fast with eight kills in the opening set, finished with 15 kills to lead all players. Grace Vallis chipped in with another eight kills, while setter Naomi Unger delivered a game-high 30 assists.

Dinos’ talented second-year outside hitter Sophia Hansen was the only visiting player to record more than five kills, as the Calgary offence was forced out of system for most of the match. Hansen finished with 14 kills.

“It looked like the team that was going after it got it,” said an emotional Calgary head coach Christine Biggs, who is also heading an up-and-coming group of players.

“I think there were like moments of compete from both, but I think, yeah, Wesman, congrats on showing up for every point like they wanted it bad.”

Hudson said he could sense that his team would be ready for the challenge during the pre-game meetings and warm-ups.

“It was a great feeling for the girls tonight to be able to handle the pressure and stress”

“There was a sense of compete,” he said. “They really wanted to play well, and it’s just not going to happen by chance. They have to force the issue. I sort of felt that they were ready to go. At the same time, I found they were way more relaxed tonight — mentally relaxed, confident going in. Just watching them in warm-up, and watching their body language after a rally didn’t go our way, how they handled that, there was more positive body language today, which was a sign of confidence.”

The Wesmen will play in the conference quarterfinals for the third time in four years and, for the second year in a row, against the Alberta Pandas. Game 1 of the best-of-three series goes Thursday, Feb. 26.

Last year’s meeting against the Pandas didn’t go as Winnipeg had hoped — the Wesmen won one set while being swept in the series — but there is a belief that this team is more equipped to handle the top seed and reigning conference champs.

“Defintley, going in there is more confidence, especially, I would argue that having lost a game in our best-of-three series, that just shows us obviously we’re not invincible — we have our weaknesses — but now we witnessed that in a playoff setting, and we have that to rely on, where Alberta doesn’t at the moment,” said Kendziora.

“So we know what it’s like to lose a playoff match right now, but how to come back and really focus on our strengths and get out of ruts a lot sooner, and what parts of our games that we need to play against them.”

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