Dalhousie Tigers capture 18th AUAA crown

Wins consolation finals at Nationals

By Carmen Tam

The Dalhousie men's volleyball team captured their 18th AUAA crown in 19 years under the reign of head coach AI Scott last month to make their 19th consecutive appearance at the CIAU Tournament. The Tigers, entering the finals with an 8-2 conference record, won the title in commanding style, sweeping the best-of-three AUAA Championships over the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds 2- 0.

Dal, who had struggled against UNB in the regular season, trounced their rivals 3-0 in the opening match by game scores of 15-6, 15-8, 15-9. Top performances for Dal came from Jason Trepanier who had 18 kills and 11 digs while teammate Terry Martin had 16 kills, 10 digs and 4 blocks. Tiger middle blocker Bobby Stevens chipped in 8 digs, 4 blocks and 2 service aces in the win as Jeff Byrne responded with 12 kills and 9 digs for UNB.

A more focused Reds team showed up the next day but still came out flat against Dal's superb blocking and aggressive offense. The Tigers dumped UNB 15-9, 15-10 and 15-7, much to the delight of the 300 fans that showed up at Dalplex. Martin and John Hobin had 19 kills each while Trepanier added 17 kills.

"It was our first goal obviously," said setter Dave Cox who played in the first match. "We were pretty excited. We worked pretty hard in the month leading up to the AUAAs and it paid off."

"We really came together as a team," added Stevens who has seen increased court time since Christmas. "It wasn't anything technical or tactical, but everyone just showed up to play and that was great."

This makes it the third year in a row that Dal defeated UNB in six games at the AUAA Championships. Despite UNB's lacklustre performance in the final, their showing during the regular season indicates a much more competitive league for next year. UNB's head coach Mark Thibault was voted AUAA Coach of the Year for steering his team to their strongest performance in recent memory. Martin, a member of the National Team shared league MVP honours with the Reds' Darcy Harris. Dal co-captain John Hobin accumulated 31 kills, 29 digs and 13 blocks in the series, was named playoff MVP and was the AUAA nominee for the CIAU TSN Award for academic achievement, athletic skil and citizenship. Dal's Chris Wolfenden was overlooked for Rookie of the Year, which went to Memorial's Kevin Garnier. The Seahawks finished the season winless at 0-10. Wolfenden was recognised for a spot on the AUAA All-Star team along with Trepanier and Hobin. The Reds' Byrne and Scott Munro rounded out the selection.

Dal - who were nationally ranked sixth for most of the season and were as high as second in late November- were dropped a notch to seventh entering the national championships, a common occurrence for the Atlantic Conference champs each year. Bronze medalists in '93-'94 and '94- '95, the Tigers had hoped to improve on their CIAU silver from last season at these Championships hosted by the University of Calgary's Jack Simpson Gymnasium for the third consecutive year. The Tigers' dream of a gold medal was dashed by a 3-1 first-round loss to the second-seeded Saskatchewan Huskies. Saskatchewan, making their third CIAU appearance in four years, finally got past the Tigers who beat them in all-important opening matches in 1995 and 1997. The Huskies earned a 15-12, I 0-15, 15-8 and 15-1 0 victory over Dal.

Martin, who was named a First Team All-Canadian the night before, recorded a team high 35 kills while Trepanier had 23 kills, 14 digs and 5 blocks for the Tigers. Hobin contributed 12 kills and 10 digs in the effort. The Huskies' win made up for their dismal last-place result from last year as their Player of the Match Scott Schutz had 22 kills and Aaron Canfield had 23 digs in the win.

"We played pretty well in the first match," said Cox. "Saskatchewan was a really tough team to beat but we brought our 'B' game. It was disappointing but we managed to bounce back."

Dal regrouped for the consolation semifinals where they ended the Vert et Or's season by downing the third ranked Sherbrooke 17-15, 15-11 and 15-11. Player of the Match honours went to Cox who set up Martin for 33 kills. This was Dal's second victory over Sherbrooke in their last seven encounters this season. With the win, the Tigers avenged a gold medal loss to Sherbrooke at the Dal Classic.

Dal won the consolation finals for the second time in three years by blanking the eighth-seed, University of Western Ontario, with game scores of 15-6, 15-11 and 15-5. The Mustangs edged fourth-ranked Laval 3-2 to make the consolation final. Hobin was named Player of the Match, leading his team with 8 kills, 12 digs and 4 blocks over Western's Maron Habash who had 13 kills and 7 digs in the effort.

"In games two and three we played well. It was nice to finish the year with two good wins like that," said Cox.

The powerful Canada West Conference swept the medal awards as the top-seeded Winnipeg Wesmen confirmed their first-place ranking with a 3-0 win over the Huskies in the final - their first national title since 1987. Defending champs, the Alberta Golden Bears, who came in as wildcards in fifth-place, captured the bronze over the sixth-ranked Toronto Varsity Blues with a 3-1 victory. Laval and Sherbrooke, both from the Quebec league, finished winless for seventh pIace. Sherbrooke, who had garnered top Coach, top Rookie, and Player of the Year honours, was expected to have a better showing at the Nationals.

Martin was in fine form after a two-month hiatus recovering from ankle Injuries, and totalled 80 kills in three matches. He was named to the Tournament All-Star Team which included Ian Taylor (Winnipeg), Murray Grapentine (Alberta), Derek Nicholl (Alberta), Chris Ulmer (Saskatchewan) and Jeff Chung (Toro~to). Heath MacLeod of Winnipeg was named Tournament MVP.

It was a rather disappointing finish to an otherwise exceptional season for the Tigers' who had high hopes entering nationals with a strong season behind them. They collected hardware in every tournament this year, including a bronze at Waterloo, gold at Sherbrooke in their second-ever out of province tournament victory, silver at the Dal Classic and, most recently, a bronze at Laval. Dalhousie will retain a strong team for next season, despite losing three-time AUAA All-Star Hobin, a fifth-year engineering student from Halifax, who played out his eligibility with five AUAA titles, two CIAU bronze and one CIAU silver. Other possible losses are the leadership of fourth-year veteran standouts Martin and Trepanier, and second-year leftside hitter Mike Vasseur to graduation. Their shoes will be filled by middle Scott Bishop, leftside hitter Matt Hartlen and third year players such as middles Peter Thurlow and Stevens, who have shown their capabilities this season. The Tigers will be assisted by rookies Wolfenden and Ryan Andrews who both had an impressive first season. The play-making department will have no shortages as solid setting duties will be shared by Cox, Peter Exall and Sasho MacKenzie.

"I'm disappointed that it's over," said Cox. "It was fun to have an opportunity to play with the older guys who are leaving.

"It was kind of a bumpy season overall. We had some high points and low points but overall it was a great season."

"We lost a couple of key players last year but we gelled quickly as a team, especially after Christmas," noted Stevens. "It is unfortunate to see Hobin done now, but it was a great year for all of us."

Congratulations to the Dal team for all their accomplishments this year, for continuing the Tiger tradition of excellence and for being outstanding ambassadors for Dalhousie.

First published in the Dalhousie Gazette vol 130, iss 21 on March 5, 1