Volleyball Tigers take CIAU bronze
By Carmen Tam
The national championship didn't even start yet and the Dalhousie Tigers already collected some hardware at the CIAU men's volleyball banquet last Thursday night.
AUAA MVP Scott Bagnell found himself in familiar territory with his second first team all-Canadian honours, with his first one in 1991. Work horse Chris Schwarz finally received the national recognition he deserves with a second team all-Canadian honours and middle blocker Terry Martin was named CIAU Rookie of the Year. The awards were judged by the CIAU coaches association. More hardware was to come.
The Tigers, ranked fourth nationally won their first all important match against the fifth ranked University of Saskatchewan Huskies last Friday in a five set marathon. Dalhousie who has not faced the Huskies all season dropped the first set 17-15 before winning the next two.
The Huskies came back to take the fourth set and the winner was determined in rally points. Schwarz had 34 kills and 7 stuff blocks while teammates Anton Potvin and Eric Villeneuve added 18 and 13 kills respectively. Final scores were 15-17, 15-9, 15-12, 14-16 and 17-15 to advance the Tigers to the semi-finals against the number one Manitoba Bisons.
The powerful Bisons who are undefeated against Canadian competition this season extended their streak to 35-0 with a 3-1 win over the Tigers. Game scores were 13-15, 10- 15, 15-12 and7 - 15. Schwarz hammered 32 kills and six blocks while Jamie Mallon and Villeneuve had 16 kills each.
"In general we had a good match, the players were very good about sticking to the plans," said Scott.
Earlier in the season the Tigers had a difficult time defensively in blocking the Bisons, however at nationals Dalhousie improved significantly.
"Our blocking was very strong and this is very encouraging."
In the medal games, in a repeat of last year's games, the Tigers faced the Alberta Golden Bears again for bronze while Laval and Manitoba battled it out for the gold.
For the second time in the finals the Tigers edged the Alberta Golden Bears to take third place. The Tigers won in rally points in the final game to take their second consecutive bronze medal. Game scores were 12- 15, 15-6, 15-7 9-15 and 15-10.
Bagnell collected player of the game honours for Dalhousie with 9 stuff blocks and 4 digs and Chad Hatala was selected for the Golden Bears. Jamie Mallon who provided exceptional passing along with Villeneuve the first two games, fell ill Sunday and Rob Ager came in for Dal playing "his best match ever" according to Scott. Ager, a fifth year veteran, had 16 kills and 7 digs. Schwarz had 27 kills to bring his total to 93 for the weekend while Potvin added 13 kills, 5 stuffblocks and 4 digs.
"It was a long match," said head coach Al Scott, 1989 CIAU coach of the year, "but the determination of the senior players was apparent."
"They were determined to bring something around their necks," added Scott. "We fell behind in the fourth set when we trailed 12-0 but we managed to tum it to 9-15 and carried that momentum to the fifth set."
In the gold medal match the Bison avenged last year's loss to Laval by a 3-1 victory. Game scores were 15-13, 15-10, 12-15 and 15-7.
Schwarz was named to the tournament all-star team which was dominated by Manitoba athletes. Schwarz was "unstoppable over the weekend," according to Scott.
Scott Koskie of the Bisons was a triple winner with a national title, MVP of the championship, and the TSN award (won by Dalhousie last year).
CIAU Rookie of the Year Terry Martin who had 12 kills, 10 blocks and 3 digs against Manitoba said of his award: "It was a surprise. I wasn't expecting it at all. Didn't dwell on the awards ... just came to play. The award was definitely an added bonus."
Scott remarks, "Terry is very solid at the net and was not bothered at playing at this level."
It was a fitting end for five players who are graduating this season.
Said Anton Potvin: "It's hard to compare this one (medal) because it was our last performance, played under different circumstances- we did it with he-art and determination."
First published in the Dalhousie Gazette vol 127, iss 20 on March 9, 1995