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Volleyball teams have work to do

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VIU Mariners player Lee Hamilton spikes the ball at practice last month at the VIU gym.

Vancouver Island University’s volleyball teams can start getting into playoff mode before anyone else.

The Mariners women’s and men’s volleyball teams are enjoying a bye week after closing out their regular seasons with losses to the UBC-Okanagan Heat in Kelowna last weekend.

“It’s nice to have this weekend just to recuperate and really think of what we need to work on for the following weeks before we hit provincials,” said Shenise Power, VIU player.

Provincials are kind of like a do-over for the Mariners teams. The B.C. Colleges’ Athletic Association championship will be held right back in UBC-O’s gym from Feb. 24-26.

The M’s know what it’s like to play the top-seeded Heat in that building.

“We just did it,” said Shane Hyde, coach of the Mariner women (13-1). “We can rectify the situation pretty much instantly rather than wait a whole semester. We’re going, basically, back to the scene of the crime.”

He doesn’t want to radically change the team’s game plan, since the M’s know how to win matches.

“We’ll fix up the issues we had with our outside blocking and work on a couple of technical things, but basically it’s all about getting ourselves in the right mental state,” Hyde said.

The players know they could have played better in their last match, and believe they can be better the next time they take the court.

"We know that we have some things to work on before provincials and we haven't reached our peak potential yet," Power said.

Rob Barcelos, co-coach of the VIU men, said his team’s match against the Heat was a learning experience. His players were reminded of how the ball floats a little more in the higher-altitude Okanagan, and how UBC-O tends to pack its gym for big games.

“It was good to get there, have a match there so that when we go back we know what their gym’s all about,” Barcelos said.

The M’s men (8-6), he said, will be working on blocking leading up to the BCCAA tournament, and he also plans to work on serving with his players at the end of practice, when they’re tired, to replicate game situations.

The bye week presents a challenge in keeping the team sharp, but Barcelos said he has the type of players who will be hungry at provincials, even though they’re proud of what they’ve accomplished so far.

“Our No. 1 goal, we’ve met it,” he said. “We’re in playoffs. It’s great.”

sports@nanaimobulletin.com