DORIAN GEIGER
Sports Editor
The nets and volleyballs of the Huskies volleyball teams have again become collectors of dust until the dawn of next season.
In what has become a trend within the U of S volleyball program, the Huskies men’s and women’s teams have once more bowed out of Canada West playoff contention.
While the Huskies men’s and women’s basketball teams enjoy CIS championship runs in Halifax and Windsor in coming weeks, the volleyball contingents at the U of S will be cleaning out the cobwebs in their lockers.
It’s been a better part of a decade since either the Huskies men’s or women’s teams attained playoff status and both teams have remained in a perpetual state of rebuilding. Yes, the Green and White’s volleyball program has been in shambles for eons.
The men’s and women’s squads concluded their Canada West campaigns with dismal 3-15 and 2-16 records, respectively. The Huskies have been mingling in the basement of the Canada West for so long it would be surprising if they remember what the light of day feels like. Aside from Huskies women’s soccer, the men’s and women’s volleyball teams are the only Huskies contingents denied the taste of postseason action in 2010-11. Even then, Huskies women’s soccer finished up with a 7-6 record — one that still trumps the combined wins of the Huskies men’s and women’s teams in 2010-11.
Losing hasn’t always been the Huskies legacy, however. In fact, the men’s volleyball team is the most decorated Huskies team in the history of U of S athletic tradition.
The Huskies men’s team has appeared in 17 CIS championships, totalling an impressive 11 medals and winning 10 Canada West championships in the course of their existence. The Huskies women’s team has a remarkable history too; they captured seven Canada West titles from 1979 to 1992 (with the exception of 1984-85) and at least two Huskies were named to the Canada West all-star team each year during this impressive streak.
So it begs the question: What exactly has gone on in recent years to put the Huskies volleyball program in the sad position it is presently in? Is it coaching? Player recruitment? Or the program itself?
Under the guidance of head coach Brian Gavlas, the Huskies have amassed a 173-103 record, one that doesn’t speak full volume to the present state of program. In his nearly 20 years of coaching the Huskies, Gavlas has led the team through spectacular times and rocky patches. Gavlas likely isn’t a huge part of the Dogs’ woes given his winning resume in past years.
It may be a different case for the women’s Huskies. After Leslie Irie assumed the reigns of the team in 1997, she’s mounted an unimpressive 86-158 record. Compared to the previous coach Mark Tenant, who compiled a 232-140 during his leadership of the team from 1972-1997, Irie has failed to live up to her predecessor’s legacy. Despite leading previous teams to conference championships and winning a CIS coach of the year award, Irie has not been a galvanizing force on the Huskies sidelines.
And it’s not like these teams haven’t been privy to exceptional players either; Mark Dodds, Shannon Usher and Alwyn Piche — all provincial prodigies at one point in time — have graced the Huskies with their presence. And a plethora of other home grown players are continually recruited by more prominent varsity volleyball programs across the country.
Despite the lacklustre state of the Huskies men’s and women’s volleyball programs, given the influx of student athletes each year, it is only a matter of time before the Dogs regain their status at the top of the Canada West food chain.
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image: Raisa Pezderic/The Sheaf