It was a bit of a sluggish start to the new semester, say the VIU Mariners, but things are about to pick up.
The women’s volleyball team (13-1) is preparing to host the first-placed Fraser Valley Cascades (14-2) this Friday (Jan. 20) and Saturday at the Vancouver Island University gym.
It will be a change of pace for the M’s, who are coming off straight-sets victories against the last-placed Douglas Royals on the road.
“It was a little rough,” said Paige Wiebe, Mariners rightside. “We’re used to faster-paced volleyball, but they were really slow and sloppy and they threw junk at us that we’re not used to because our practices are high-paced and everyone’s around the same level.”
Coach Shane Hyde said the clash of styles on the court is an easy excuse to use, but he expects his team to be better this coming weekend. They’ll need to be, playing a team with a terrific libero and strong power hitters.
“When they are on, they are very, very tough to stop,” said Hyde of the opposition. “It’s not like some of our other opponents in our conference where we have to key on two players and we shut those two players down, we win the match.”
Wiebe said her team needs to keep up the talk and the intensity on the court.
“The last time we played them we went into our shells a little bit, we lost one of the matches and it was really upsetting,” she said.
But the M’s have gotten better since then. Hyde said having so many strong players on the roster posed a challenge in the first half of the season, as he tried to determine players’ roles.
Now, the team’s development has “definitely improved,” said Wiebe.
“It’s going the right direction for the rest of the matches,” she said. “They’re going to fly by so we need to keep moving up as we go. Last semester was just to help us work together and learn how to play with each other and this semester we’ll put it into good use.”
GAME ON … The women’s teams from VIU and UFV play Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 1 p.m. The men’s teams play at 7:45 p.m. and 2:45 p.m.
sports@nanaimobulletin.com