The University of Saskatchewan Huskies compete within the Canada West Universities Athletic Association conference as part of Canadian Interuniversity Sport. In order to win a CIS championship, which is top honours in the country’s university athletics, teams must qualify and win their conference’s playoffs, and win the CIS playoffs — the only exception in qualifying for playoffs is that the host school automatically competes. Other conferences in the CIS include the Ontario University Athletics, the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec and the Atlantic University Sport.
Coming off the 2010-11 season, the Huskies saw a few of their teams put up their strongest showings in history. This year, a few of the Huskies’ teams have rosters in place to win conference championships and some star players to break national records. Other teams, of course, will finish at the bottom of their division as they have young rosters and are rebuilding for the future.
Under head coach Brian Gavlas, the Huskies men’s volleyball team only missed the CIS playoffs once from 1996 to 2006, winning two national titles in that time. Unfortunately, they have missed both the CIS and Canada West playoffs for the last four years.
Most of the players from last year’s squad are back this season, but with only one fifth-year on the roster and no Canada West or CIS all-stars, this still might not be the year they break the drought. It all depends on how well the Huskies’ top players mix with the new recruits.
Geoff Zerr is the lone fifth-year. The middle blocker finished third in the Canada West last year with a .389 hit percentage — meaning he had 92 kills and 22 errors on 180 hit attempts.
Third years Matt Busse and Braden McLean will help Zerr in his leadership role.
Busse won the Huskies male rookie of the year award two years ago and will likely have his best year this season. He finished eighth in the Canada West in both kills per set (3.30) and points per set (3.82).
McLean will bring a wealth of experience to the court this season as he spent this summer in Brazil competing for Canada at the world junior volleyball championships.
Two recruits who are expected to have an immediate impact are Andrew McWiggan and Phil Duffy.
McWiggan is a left-handed setter from Sale, Australia. Now 19, he was voted as one of the top players in the country in 2007.
Duffy, who plays the libero position, is a transfer from the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference where he finished at the top of the conference in digs per game (3.05)
The last time the Huskies women’s volleyball team earned a Canada West playoff spot was in the 2001-02 season. This year will likely be the same, as the team is rebuilding due to a coaching change.
Leslie Irie, the head coach for the past 13 years, decided to leave her post following the team’s last place finish in 2010-11.
Jason Grieve, a top provincial team, coach and athlete developer for Saskatchewan Volleyball was appointed interim head coach. He coached in the CIS from 2002 to 2006 at the University of Waterloo. When he took over at Waterloo, they were the worst team in their conference. He rebuilt their program and improved Waterloo to a .500 winning team.
While he may be the fresh face needed to boost the Dogs’ volleyball program, players will need time to adjust to his coaching style. Chances are that this will not yet be the year they see success.
Fortunately, most of the squad is young. There are nine first- and second-year players on the 15-person roster including rookie Kayla Tycholiz from St. Mary’s high school in Prince Albert. She is expected to have an immediate impact in the middle blocker and outside hitter positions.
Along with this, the Huskies’ top players still have at least two years of eligibility left.
The top three returnees from last year are third-year outside hitter Candace Hueser, third-year setter Erin Foster and fourth-year middle blocker Laura Beadle.
Hueser finished third in the Canada West in kills per game with 3.33 and fourth in points per game with 3.75.
Beadle’s 0.90 blocks per game were ninth amongst all Canada West athletes.
Perhaps the Huskies’ biggest weapon this year will be new recruit Alex Van Dyke. She is a fourth-year, left-handed outside hitter who has transferred from Portland State.
The Huskies had no players named to the Canada West or the CIS all-star teams last year.