Setting up the season

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This article was published 18/10/2017 (3196 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Ken Bentley recruited a bevy of talented newcomers in the off-season, but the head coach of the University of Manitoba women’s volleyball team wasn’t adverse to adding some veteran help. 

Setter Brittany Habing and middle Emily Erickson, both veterans of Bentley’s program, have returned to the fold after leaving the program to concentrate on their university studies. The 5-7 Habing is back for her fifth year of eligibility after taking two seasons away to dedicate to her nursing studies, while the 6-2 Erickson, an education student who has also competed as a high-level rower for the last three years, is back for Year 4 with the Bisons.

“If I didn’t think they could help or fit, I’d say, ‘Sorry,’” Bentley said. “They both know that and they both knew that there were no pre-conditions or promises. All they had was opportunity to compete and they’ve done a great job.”

The Manitoba women open their 2017-18 regular season at Investors Group Athletic Centre with a Friday and Saturday twin bill against the visiting Brandon Bobcats. 

Here’s a look at how the local teams shape up for the upcoming season:

 

MANITOBA WOMEN

 

2016-17 regular-season finish: ninth in Canada West

Key departures: Sarah Klassen, Caleigh Dobie

Bentley returns to the Bisons after taking a six-month leave for professional development, time he spent observing the elite programs at the University of Minnesota and Penn State. Bentley, in his 31st season with the Bisons, says he’s feeling refreshed and enthused about his squad’s potential and he believes a top-four conference finish is possible.

“I really like this team a lot,” said Bentley, who earned the last of his six national titles in 2014. “I do because we have a great spread of eligibility in terms of first year to fifth year. That development and peer learning is going to take place.”

Manitoba has five rookies on the roster, including left side Ayiya Ottogo and middle Laura Hill. Both were part of the golden effort on Manitoba’s behalf at the Canada Summer Games last summer and newcomer Kelsey Jordan, a setter from Brandon’s Vincent Massey, is also playing to rave reviews.

Meanwhile, right side Kearley Abbott, Canada West’s 2016-17 rookie of the year, Habing and Erickson will have a lot to say about the Bisons’ chances of causing a stir in the Canada West playoffs.

 

WINNIPEG WOMEN

 

2016-17 regular-season finish: eighth in Canada West

Key departures: Danika Picklyk, Karissa Kuhr

The youthful Wesmen boast one of the nation’s top recruiting classes, which includes Jessica Andjelic, Taylor Boughton, Emma Parker and Ashleigh Laube — all members of the province’s gold-medal-winning effort at the Games.

“We had a much stronger recruiting year with more athleticism and potential for volleyball IQ coming down the pipe, so it’s good,” said head coach Diane Scott, whose team travels to Calgary for an opening weekend series with Mount Royal.

“We’re better than we were a year ago. We have more potential right now. We have more depth, more athleticism. The recruits bring more — they bring more seriousness to the program. You have to be mature to come into this environment.” 

Parker, a 5-10 left side from St. Norbert, is a high-end talent. Her dad, Will Parker, was a Wesmen basketball player in the 1980s while mom Ardith Lernout was one of Scott’s volleyball teammates during the same era. 

“Emma brings a great deal of athleticism to the plate,” Scott said. “She has work to do, but that comes with time and being exposed to a university-level experience, right? She’s very dynamic. She jumps out of the gym, she has a really good feel for the game, she likes to compete — so it’s very positive.”

Others starters include Kalena Schulz, who took a year off after transferring from the U of M, and middles Maria Colvin and Jessica Friesen. 

Boughton, a product of the St. Mary’s Academy powerhouse, will also be tested early in her rookie season.  

“They worked hard (last year), but we have so much more now,” Scott said.

“The thing is we’re young again. We’re really young and even with my older players, this is only their second or third year starting. That’s a big stepping stone.”

Though she has high hopes, Scott prefers to temper expectations.

“I think you have to talk about expectations, you have to keep them relatively real,” Scott said. “Obviously, our goal is to compete and strive for the playoff and the national championship.” 

 

WINNIPEG MEN

 

2016-17 regular-season finish: seventh in Canada West

Key departures: outsides Casey Schouten, Brendan Thielmann

Head coach Larry McKay has plotted a slower build to the conference playoffs this season as he works six first- and second-year players into the lineup.

The 6-7 Ethan Duncan and 6-5 Daniel Thiessen are youngsters expected to start, while third-year man Mikael Clegg has been tabbed as the squad’s regular setter.

David Bommersbach, a 6-3 outside powerhouse, and 6-5 outside Adrian Dyck, and fifth-year libero Logan Brennan, a starter for the past three seasons, are also crucial pieces to the puzzle.

“As long as he’s healthy we’re expecting him to be a top-level Canada West player,” said McKay of Bommersbach, who has been voted a conference all-star the past two seasons.

McKay’s crew, which will host the first Wesmen Classic men’s volleyball tournament at Christmas, will be aiming for one of eight conference playoff berths in 2017-18.

The Wesmen were without star Casey Schouten, who missed time with a stress fracture in his leg last season and never lived up to their mid-season No. 4 national ranking. 

Winnipeg will sorely miss Schouten, now playing professionally in Finland, and Brendan Thielmann, but McKay thinks he has the makings of a winner with his current bunch.

The Wesmen play Mount Royal on Friday and Saturday.

“UBC, Trinity Western and I think Mount Royal,” said McKay, listing off the probable Canada West favourites.

“It’s very close. Perhaps the best teams are a little closer to the pack then they have been in the last few years, so it’s maybe a bit more of an open conversation than it has been in previous years.

“We had a couple of really good teams we were all chasing. There’s a lot more parity, I think.”

 

MANITOBA MEN

 

2016-17 regular-season finish: second in Canada West

Key departures: Luke Herr, Devren Dear, Evan Jackson, Ken Rooney, Kevin Falconer

The Bisons, coming off a quarter-final exit at the nationals last spring, will be extremely young and likely to fly under the radar.

“We will start, possibly, four first-year kids,” said head coach Garth Pischke, whose Bisons open against Brandon Friday night. “It’s happened before, it’s sort of the beginning of a cycle, but four is a lot. Usually it’s two or three, but it’s just the way things went.”

But the newcomers are talented. Left side Owen Schwartz, the 6-4 high school player of the year in the city, will be joined by fellow Selkirk product Jack Mandryk, a setter, 6-6 Vincent Massey middle Brendan Warren and Steinbach libero Kyle Martens.

“It’s a lot different,” Pischke said. “We’ll work a lot more on individual technique this time of the year. When it’s a veteran team, you can get a lot more into team systems and strategies and work on more things because you’re capable of more things.

“Right now, our offence is extremely basic because we’re still trying to get the kinks out and the errors out of our system.”

Manitoba is not without experience. Contributions from fifth-year left side Adam DeJonckheere, first-year starter Scott Vercaigne and Dustin Spiring are crucial.

“Those are going to be the main guys who are really going to have to have flawless seasons for us to do well,” Pischke said.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @sawa14