Playoff picture still murky for U of S volleyball teams
The playoff picture could definitely use some HD, as in High Definition.
Right now, it’s simply not clear enough whether the University of Saskatchewan volleyball teams are playoff-bound.
U of S men’s coach Nathan Bennett put his Hockey Central at Noon highlights on pause to discuss his team’s Canada West conference pixel-less playoff picture this week.
The Huskies are currently tied for sixth in the conference with a 7-7 record. The top eight teams make the playoffs.
“You’re always happy to be in a playoff spot, but, hindsight being what it is, we definitely let a few matches get away from us,” admitted the first-year Huskies head coach, whose Huskies host the University of Manitoba Bisons in a pair of matches Friday and Saturday (8 p.m. at the PAC).
“We put ourselves in a position to be in the playoffs, which is good, but the road ahead is not as easy as it could have been.
“It’s definitely made it more difficult and every match is a playoff match going forwards.”
Nothing is guaranteed. Nothing is clinched.
Saskatchewan has eight matches remaining, four at home (versus the Manitoba Bisons and Mount Royal Cougars) and four on the road (versus Alberta and Thompson Rivers).
“Three of the four weekends are teams that are above us,” noted Bennett, whose team is healthy heading down the final stretch and, thanks to a bye, well rested.
“Knock on wood, we’re good right now.”
Bennett said the Christmas break was difficult.
“The (Jan. 5) match against Winnipeg on Saturday, it showed up how much work we had been putting in with Budo (a university from Japan) being here. Everybody had exams and then a short Christmas break and then we had Budo and then that long bus trip to Winnipeg caught up to us a little bit. That bye week that we just had came at a real good time.”
HUSKIES WOMEN
In Canada West women’s volleyball, Saskatchewan is currently 10th and out of a playoff spot with a 6-10 record and two-game losing skid.
The top eight teams make the playoffs.
The Huskies have eight matches remaining, four at home (Manitoba and Mount Royal) and four away (Alberta Pandas and Thompson Rivers Wolfpack). All four teams are ahead of the Huskies in the Canada West standings.
U of S head coach Mark Dodds has seen this movie before.
The Huskies women will have to fight for a potential playoff berth.
“Again,” said Dodds, whose team hosts the Bisons on Friday and Saturday (6 p.m., PAC). “It’s a little bit frustrating, for sure, just in the sense I feel we’ve played a little bit better than what our record shows.
“But I’m relatively satisfied with how things have gone so far. We’re still progressing and on our way up, so these weekends are going to be tough but there’s still some possibility there to get on a bit of a roll here and put ourselves in a position to be knocking on the playoff door.”
The U of S women’s volleyball team hasn’t made the playoffs in years, but Dodds is not discouraged. He says it’s all about the process, even if the results don’t immediately come.
“The team has been sticking to that process,” he said. “They’ve been working their butts off and some of it (losing) has been due to us not playing at the right level. Some of it, you have to give credit to the other teams.
“Other teams have played better on that day and beat us. That’s the way sports goes sometimes.”