The national championship tournament isn’t far away, in any sense of the word.
The Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association women’s volleyball championships get underway this week (March 9-11) and they’re close by this year, at Victoria’s Pacific Institute for Sports Excellence.
For the Vancouver Island University Mariners, PacWest champions, it means a different sort of experience with nationals – they don’t have to fly across the country; they just have to head down the highway to a familiar venue.
The B.C. champs were keeping things light and loose at practice last week. They’ve proven they’re good; now they just need to make sure they’re ready.
“We’re kind of just polishing the last little things up – there’s not really much you can learn at this point,” said Chantal Cumming, a team captain.
A lot of the preparation is mental. VIU coach Shane Hyde said that the PacWest championships basically featured national-calibre volleyball, so the task is to continue performing at that level.
“We need to maintain the same kind of hunger that we had at provincials and the same level of play and same level of focus…” he said. “If we keep that same style going into nationals, pretty much carbon copy what we just did, then we’re in a perfect situation to do well at nationals. Whether that’s enough to win, who knows, but that’s exactly what I would like to see.”
There were some unexpected results in other provinces, adding some element of the unknown to this week’s CCAA tourney. But Cumming noted that the upsets happened for a reason, and the teams coming to Victoria will be bringing their best volleyball.
“Every single team we’re going to play at nationals is going to be exceptional so we’ve got to bring our level of game in the final to every single match,” said Mikayla Wagner, VIU power hitter.
The Mariners are excited, and hope fans feel the same way. Hyde said the team feels like it treated spectators to “some of the best” volleyball at provincials in Nanaimo a week and a half ago.
“It’s going to be the same thing if they travel an hour and a half down to Victoria and we would appreciate every bit of help,” the coach said.
GAME ON … The VIU women play in the tournament’s opening match Thursday at 1 p.m. against the Cavaliers de Bois-de-Bologne. If the Mariners win, they advance to a semifinal match Friday at 6 p.m. The national final will be Saturday at 8 p.m.
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