Finishing last season with a 12–12 record and narrowly missing the Canada West post-season was a disappointing result for the Huskies men’s volleyball team, as they had to host the Canadian Interuniversity Sport national championships a few weeks later.

Despite all the weapons they had fully deployed, it just wasn’t enough as the McMaster University Marauders defeated the eighth seeded Huskies to end their season. Fast forward seven months: the high of hosting nationals has worn off and the rebuild will now commence for the Huskies.

Losing seniors Zak Rempel, Paul Thomson and Matt Busse could be detrimental to the squad, as all three were starters and contributed heavily on both offence and defence. With plenty of new faces filling out the roster, another down year might just be in the cards for the Huskies in the ultra-competitive Canada West conference.

New recruits Patrick Hunchak, Russell Lefley, Daulton Sinoski, C.J. Gavlas and Stephen Senicar will all don the green and white for the first time this year and be a part of the transformation this program will undergo. For the time being, the Huskies will lean on veterans Tyler Epp, Matt Erickson, Jordan Nowakowski, Troy Wiebe and Robert Graham to carry them.

Epp is a monster in the middle, standing at 6-7, and he brings the intensity in every game he plays. His 13 blocks were second on the team a year ago and now in his fourth year, he could become one of the most dominant players in the league. Wiebe will look to control the offence in the setter position and he is already off to a great start, recording 81 assists in the team’s first two games of the season. Nowakowski also got off to an incredible start, as he tallied 38 kills — good enough for second in the conference after the opening weekend of action.

While those players are off to hot starts, the Huskies do have some depth in the waiting. Swiss libero Etienne Hagenbuch is a very capable replacement on defence and had some solid playing time last year. Colin Fraser has a very athletic, big build, standing 6-6 with outstanding hops and was named to the CIS all-rookie team in 2015. He should see an increase in playing time and have a more significant role on the team this season.

Head coach Brian Gavlas will return for his 23rd season at the helm, and the four-time CanWest Coach of the Year will look to guide his team back to the playoffs. He knows losing three key players will be tough to overcome, but still has confidence in the players he has right now. Introducing his son, C.J. Gavlas, as a new recruit will make them the first father-son tandem in Huskies history.

With a veteran group still leading the charge and some solid depth in behind, the Huskies should still compete this season. Since the CIS national champion has been a team from the CanWest in seven of the past eight years, it will be a tough schedule but the Dogs will look to get it done. 

Catch the first glimpse of Huskies volleyball on Oct. 23 as both the men and women’s team will play host to the UBC Okanagan Heat. The women’s games are set to get underway at 6:00 p.m. while the men will begin at 8:00 p.m. Both teams have games on Oct. 24 as well, and for a complete schedule visit huskies.usask.ca