BRANDON, Man. – Memo to the rest of CIS: the demise of the Brandon Bobcats has been greatly exaggerated.
On the heels of three consecutive lopsided losses, the ninth-ranked Bobcats delivered their most impressive victory of the season Friday night, crushing the No. 3 Calgary Dinos in straight sets (25-15, 25-16, 25-18) in Canada West men's volleyball action at the BU Gym.
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"It would pretty much have to be our best performance of the season," says Brandon coach Russ Paddock, "To win on the scoreboard that convincingly against a team as good as we know they are was certainly good for us. Especially considering the struggle we've been going through the last couple of weeks.
With the win, the Bobcats (7-6) remain in the hunt for home court advantage in the opening round of the playoffs, moving into a tie with the Winnipeg Wesmen for fourth place in the conference. The victory also snapped the Dinos' (11-4) six-match winning streak.
"I'm a little surprised that the score is as lopsided as it appears," adds Paddock, "In the first and third set, they narrowed it to two in the teens, but we were able to stop their run and pull away. So that was good that we never let them quite back in it. But I definitely think the sets were closer than the scores indicated."
The Bobcats thoroughly dominated the match, smothering the Dinos with a dazzling array of kills, service aces, and stuff-blocks.
"After losing both of our matches last weekend, we certainly had to give our heads a shake and play well tonight," says Brandon All-Canadian left-side Paul Sanderson, "We can still pretty much finish anywhere in the standings from four to seven, so we need to win as many games the rest of the way. This weekend, we're halfway there."
Sanderson played like a man possessed for BU, delivering 12 kills and 5 service aces. Joel Small, Kevin Miller, and Paul Robidoux added 6 kills apiece. Small also had 5 blocks. Omar Langford paced the Calgary attack with 7 kills.
"We passed really well tonight, and that makes it easy for the guys on the outside," adds Sanderson, "We were very efficient on that, and we ran Small through the middle and he came up big, too."
The Bobcats will look for a second straight victory over the Dinos on Saturday when the teams wrap up their weekend series at the BU Gym.
"They (Calgary) will certainly be better tomorrow night," says Paddock, "They're a talented team. They haven't been ranked in the top four all year for no reason, so I'm sure they're going to be a lot better."
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