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Men's volleyball looking to build continuity for playoff push

Men's volleyball looking to build continuity for playoff push
Posted: Dec 28, 2018

OAKVILLE, Ont. - After a first half in which they employed the same starting lineup in consecutive matches only once, the Sheridan Bruins men's volleyball team (5-7, 3-6 OCAA) are hoping that building some continuity in their 39-day break from OCAA West play will have them poised for a strong playoff push.

"We got off to a slow start, but I feel pretty good about the direction we're going," head coach Frank Pento said. "We had a lot of roster turnover and it's taken us a little while to really gel as a team. The six weeks between (league) matches will be good for us though. We can get some bodies healthy again and continue to develop our chemistry."

Although they weren't an offensive powerhouse in 2017-18, the Bruins were in the top half of the OCAA in several key offensive categories, including kills (8th), assists (4th), and points (7th) per set. They have slid towards the middle ground in each of those this year, with the end result being a drop of 1.3 points per set of total offence.

It isn't much a surprise, however, as of their 10 leading scorers a year ago, only Andrew Cianci is back and playing the same position. Liam Butchereit and Richard Davids are still wearing Double Blue this season, but have shuttled between different positions to accommodate the roster turnover.

Sheridan will face a tough and critical opening stretch with two contests against teams just above them in the standings - St. Clair and Niagara - along with match-ups against two of the top four teams in the nation - No. 1 Fanshawe and No. 4 Humber.

Season Leaders

Points (per set)

Parvir Jhajj - 3.9
Liam Butchereit - 2.4
Andrew Cianci - 2.3

Kills (Total)

Parvir Jhajj - 59
Andrew Cianci - 55
Liam Butchereit - 50

Digs (Total)

Liam Butchereit - 64
Nathan Kociancic - 46
Eric Chien - 39

Playoff Picture

If the OCAA season were to end today, the Bruins would travel to Barrie for an all Bear OCAA Championship qualifier against East Division-leading Georgian (8-1).