The Huskies men’s volleyball team qualified for playoffs for the first time since the 2006-07 season.

After finishing last season with a dismal 4-16 record, the Huskies men’s volleyball team found their swing this season and have clinched a playoff berth for the first time in five years.

The Dogs ensured their spot in the post-season with a memorable defeat of the Brandon Bobcats Jan. 25 and 26. The Huskies entered the weekend ranked eighth in the country, two spots behind the Bobcats, but the Dogs proved they were the better team by sweeping Brandon in the two-game series, losing only one set along the way.

“We were pretty excited about the win, but we are really hoping to try to get a home playoff spot and to do that we have to pretty much win-out for the rest of the season,” setter Chris Gilbert said.

A veteran player on the team, Chris leads by example and has the most assists in the CIS.

The team hasn’t enjoyed this kind of success all season, though. The Dog squad didn’t start pulling away from the rest of the league until the middle of November. After going 6-5 in their first 11 games they have since lost only one match and now boast a 12-6 record.

Head coach Brian Gavlas believes the team’s remarkable turnaround from last season is due to the culmination of the team’s years of hard work and dedication.

“The growth hasn’t just been this time period. The growth has been since a lot of these guys were in their first and second years,” Gavlas said.

“They came in as very inexperienced and without a tonne of skill and they put a lot of time, work and effort into trying to become one of the best teams in the country…. They’ve kept their nose to the grindstone and it’s reaping benefits with some wins.”

Because the Huskies haven’t been to the playoffs since 2007 the team has few athletes with post-secondary playoff experience. While that lack of experience may worry some, third-year left-side hitter Paul Thomson thinks the pressure of elimination will help push his game to the next level.

“The pressure is there but it’s good. You want to be the man, you want to get the ball at the end of the match,” said Thomson who averages 3.42 points-per-set and is second on the team in kills with 183 on the season.

Fellow left-side hitter Bryan Fraser leads the team’s kills category with 211.

The undefeated Alberta Golden Bears have already clinched first place in the conference and will host the Canada West Final Four. The teams who place second through fourth at the end of the season will be granted home playoff matches against those who finish fifth through seventh in the standings.

Right now only two points separate the teams from second to fifth spot, with the Dogs currently claiming fourth. The Huskies, however, are not content with just making it into playoffs and they feel confident that the team can move up in the standings, especially since three of their final four games will be at home where they sport an impressive 7-1 record.

“You’d see lots of teams in this situation maybe lean back a little now and ease up but we can’t do that. We have to stay level, we have to push to the end and get that host” playoff game, middle blocker Braden McLean said.

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Photo: Raisa Pezderic/The Sheaf