The volleyball regular season is right around the corner and both the men’s and women’s teams at the University of Saskatchewan are set to put their off-season and preseason training in the to the test.

The volleyball season runs from October through February. Most of October will be spent in exhibition games, with both teams sharing a home opening and a season opening weekend of games against the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds.

Over the course of this weekend, the Huskies will each play two games against the respective Thunderbirds’ teams, with the women’s games starting at 6 p.m. followed by the men’s games at 8 p.m. on Oct. 28 and 29.

Last season saw the women’s team go 10–14 in the regular season and the Huskies men’s team go 15–9. The men’s team also had an impressive home record of 10–

The Huskies men’s volleyball team for the 2016-17 year.

Mark Dodds, head coach for the Huskies women’s team, is excited to get into the season and outlined what fans can expect from the team this year.

“Progression — last year we had a pretty good season and my expectations are that it’s gonna get better this season. We gained some depth on our team but then also all the returning players are another year older,” Dodds said.

Emily Humbert plays middle blocker for the team and is a fifth-year with a kinesiology degree who just entered education. She shared what she is most excited for going into the regular season.

“Our level of competition. I think we’re going to be really competitive again this year and we’re on a hunt for playoffs. We’ve got a whole bunch of girls working towards that same common goal so we’re really excited about that,” Humbert said.

Emmalyn Copping plays outside hitter and is in her fifth-year of arts and science with a major in anthropology. She outlined that there are some new aspects of the team for fans to get excited about.

“We have six newcomers to our team. They add some great depth to our team. We have a lot of great athletes and I think that attitudes as well as skill are going to be great for our overall outcome this year,” Copping said.

The men’s teams added a special component to their off-season training this year. Players Andrew Nelson, a fifth-year kinesiology major who plays right side, and Tyler Epp, a sixth-year kinesiology student who is a middle blocker, discussed the trip.

“We went for 10 days to Japan right before the season started. It was quite the experience — Japan [is] obviously a very unique culture,” Nelson said.

Epp added to that, stating that the culture in Japan has formed how they play volleyball.

“They do things very differently. It’s unique to be able to see how they live and how they play the sport that we play,” Epp said.

Nelson added on, agreeing with Epp.

“They’re a lot more structured in their volleyball practices and we definitely learned to adapt some of that into our practices,” Nelson said.

The men’s volleyball team hopes to use this experience, as well as the rest of their training, in their first true test of the season against UBC. This weekend of volleyball will be Huskies fans’ first chance to see their teams in action.

For the women’s team, looking towards the upcoming games is about all members of the team playing to their best ability.

“Volleyball is very unique. It’s a true team sport — to compare to basketball where one player, say Lebron James, can sort of take over a game and control the game. Volleyball is very different. You need all of your players on the court to contribute and be a part of the success,” Dodds said.

Dodds adds that the women’s team will be a major contender against any other team they play and that the games will be well worth the watch.

For more information on the volleyball teams and game times, head to huskies.usask.ca.

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Jack Thompson / Staff Writer

Photo: Josh Schaefer / Supplied