Huskies expect to be playoff participants in women’s volleyball
Timing is everything.
The University of Saskatchewan Huskies appear to have all their ducks in a row this season for Canada West women’s volleyball.
Now in his fifth year as head coach of the U of S Huskies, Mark Dodds is finally able to put his own stamp on the program.
There is heightened hope and optimism to qualify for the Canada West playoffs after what has been a lengthy absence.
The timing is right, too. Four teams from the Canada West conference will move on to the U Sport national championship, with the Huskies holding court with a mix of seasoned veterans and emerging youth.
“It’s my fifth year now, so it’s kind of a reflection to my recruiting and those players now becoming the veterans on the team,” Dodds said.
“We’re sort of at that point where expectations are increasing each year. I feel, for this one, we’re aiming to be one of the top teams in the Canada West. Expectations are higher, for sure.”
Saskatchewan — which hosts the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds in its Canada West home-opening weekend Friday (6 p.m.) and Saturday (3 p.m.) at the Physical Activity Complex (PAC) on the U of S campus — went 5-2 in the exhibition season.
The Huskies are 7-2 overall following a pair of wins in Calgary over the Dinos last weekend.
“We had a pretty good pre-season and a huge start out in Calgary this past weekend,” said Dodds, whose team has 12 returnees from last year.
KOSHINSKY LEADS WAY
Gone are seniors Regan Wiebe, Georgia Hurry, Alexandra Frank and Tallan Black.
Among the key returnees are three returning outside hitters — Emily Koshinsky, Taylor Annala and Olivia Mattern.
Koshinsky led the Huskies last season with 316 kills and 38 service aces. She was second in digs with 209 and fourth in blocks at 46.
Setter Averie Allard is back for her second season along with 6foot-2 middle player Mandi Fraser.
“We have a couple of players who have sort of established their spot on the court in our setter Averie Allard and middle blocker Mandi Fraser,” Dodds said.
“The combination of those three will be pretty huge for us making that next step.”
Other returnees include Brooke Listwin, Dani Forester, Hannah Toews, Angela Lavoie, Jessica Zacharias, Shae Beaulieu and Julia Tregobov.
They’re joined by transfers Olivia Abram, Caet Mccorkell and Jessica Andjelic, plus rookies Jolene Sibley, Julia Howell Bourner and Devyn Ethier.
REIGNING U SPORT CHAMPIONS MAKE VISIT
This weekend will be an early test for the host Huskies.
UBC (2-0 this season and 25-13 overall last season) is the reigning U Sport national champion.
“Traditionally, it’s a very tough matchup,” Dodds said. “UBC has been one of the top teams, year in and year out. They had some turnover from last season with their best player (Kiera Van Ryk) moving on to play professionally, so now they’ll have to lean on other players and see if they can step up. It’s going to be a tough battle, but I think we’re at a point where we can battle with those top teams now. We’re excited to meet the challenge.”
THE END GOAL IS CALGARY
“We’ve got a team that, I think, can contend,” offered Dodds. “Calgary’s hosting (U Sport nationals) so there’s Calgary and three (other) Canada West teams qualifying for nationals.
“We talked about starting our season and ending our season in Calgary. It’s a lofty goal, for sure, but we’re still sticking to the belief that we can be there with this group.”