Men's Volleyball Athlete of the Week (35)
VIU's 5th Year, middle blocker, Lee Hamilton left his mark on VIU with two sensational matches this past weekend. He was instrumental in the Mariners locking down the second seed heading into the Provincial Championships with a split in the final two matches of the regular season against cross island rivals, the Camosun Chargers.
Hamilton played those final two regular season matches in front of his home partisan crowd for one last time. He was a force all evening further validating why the 6’7” Regina native was selected to the CCAA All-Canadian in 2011-12.
In a rare Thursday night match, the Mariners came up short against the Chargers losing 3 sets to 2. Hamilton ended the evening with 25 kills, 6 blocks, 5 digs and a service aces. Following his excellent Thursday night performance, Hamilton continued to lead the Mariners on the court with another strong match on Saturday. His Mariners took the match in three straight sets. Hamilton added another 14 kills, 6 blocks and 5 digs. He finished with 52 total offensive points over the weekend.
The young, up start, 2012-13 Mariners obtained their 16th Victory of the season on the back of their 5th Year Middle. Hamilton’s dominance over the last few weekends will suit the Mariners well at the upcoming Provincial Championships in Cranbrook. The Mariners have an automatic berth into the semi-finals on Friday. VIU will face the winner of Thursday’s quarter-finals match between Camosun and UFV with the winner advancing to Saturday’s Final and a berth to the National Championships at Niagara College in Ontario.
The CBC Bearcats were sitting in 6th spot in the PACWEST heading into the weekend vs the College of the Rockies. With COTR sitting 6 points up on CBC, the Bearcats were hoping to close the gap and make a push for 5th spot. With two matches in hand, the task was obtainable. Jadon Ward, CBC’s 6’7” second year student-athlete played a huge role in their weekend results.
Ward had a phenomenal weekend, leading the Bearcats in their back-to-back victories over COTR. In a rare Thursday night match, Ward was a work horse tallying an impressive 25 kills (many against double blocks) in 4 sets and had 1 block and an ace.
On Friday afternoon, Ward continued his dominance recording 20 kills, 4 blocks, 1 ace, and 6 digs. Ward has worked extra hard all season as it is his first ever swinging from the outside. The move this weekend paid off big for him and the Bearcats as his 45 kills cemented him as one of the best in the PACWEST.
Third-year Camosun student-athlete Alex Wolf had a stellar weekend in the Chargers two wins over the CBC Bearcats. The 6’3” power from Surrey, BC was called on to play two different positions.
On Friday night Wolf played on the right side and contributed 13 points to the victory, with 11 kills, 2 ace serves and a number of key digs. On Saturday he returned to action, this time in the P1 position, and again led the Chargers with 12 kills on a stellar .500 efficiency, 2 blocks and another ace, along with 6 digs.
Wolf’s two match total of 23 kills (overall .410 efficiency), 3 aces and 2 blocks represent a career high for the third year, multi dimensional Camosun athlete and are a signal that he is rounding into form as the Chargers head towards the playoffs.
Heading into Volleyball Week 11 (PACWEST Wk 17), Camosun sat solidly in 4th spot. In Back to back wins against UFV Cascades, 3rd Year Chargers student-athlete Jeremy Finn was instrumental in both of Camosun's wins, leading the home team to victory on both offense and defense.
On Friday, Finn notched 9 kills, 1 stuff block and 4 service aces in a three set victory. He also passed a 2.4 on 25 receptions, his best performance of the season. On Saturday, the 6’2” leftside showed his defensive prowess with 16 digs, and coupled it with an equally impressive 13 kills, 2 block points and 2.3 passing on 27 receptions.
“Overall, Jeremy’s 22 kills, 3 blocks, 4 aces, 19 digs and 2.35 passing speak to the well rounded and consistent leader he has become in his third season in the PACWEST,” commented Head Coach Charles Parkinson.
The young 2012-13 Mariners get their 10th Victory of the season on the back of their 5th Year Middle. These veteran performances from Hamilton will be needed in order for the Mariners to have success at the Provincial Championships back in Cranbrook in February. The Mariners next opponent is a homes series versus the CBC Bearcats this coming weekend.
Friday night the Mariners lost a very hard fought match 3-1 (25-20, 26-24, 24-26 25-23) to the Avs. Hamilton finished the match with 20 kills, 3 blocks, 7 digs and 2 service aces. Hamilton continued to lead the Mariners on the court with another strong match on Saturday winning 3-0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-22) to split the weekend series. He added another 11 kills, 4 digs and 3 blocks.
VIU's 5th Year, Middle Blocker, Lee Hamilton put together two of the best matches this PACWEST season. After coming off a stress fracture where he missed the last 6 matches in first semester, Hamilton showed glimpses of his 2011-12 CCAA All Canadian form over the past weekend at the College of the Rockies. He finished with 39 total points and a kill percentage of 85.6%.
The Douglas College Royals restarted the PACWEST season after the break right where they left off in November. Playing host to Camosun, The Royals came away with two victories to stretch their lead to 8 points over the VIU Mariners who lost both of their matches vs Capilano.
Friday night saw the Chargers coming out looking to avenge their loss to Douglas on November 10th. The Royals would not be denied on home court. Key to the Royals effort was 4th year middle, Andrew Robson (Delta Secondary). Robson, currently enrolled in the Sports Science program, was a force at the net notching 15 kills on 21 swings with only 1 error and 3 stuff blocks. His kill percentage for the evening was 71% with an efficiency of .670. Robson’s offensive output helped the Royals secure a 3-1 victory.
In Saturday’s return engagement, Robson was again highly efficient recording 14 kills but up’s his stuff block total to 5. Despite being down 2 sets to 1, the Royals followed Robson’s lead and came back to secure a 5 set victory. With the weekend sweep, the Royals improved to 13-1 and undefeated on home court this season.
“Andy was huge for us this weekend. We were down a few healthy bodies and he really stepped up for us. To record 29 kills out of the middle with only 4 errors against a good defensive squad was impressive” added Royals Head Coach, Brad Hudson.
The Camosun Chargers had another successful weekend winning both matches against COTR and fifth year rightside Andy Inglis was instrumental in the wins. Camosun was fresh while COTR was playing their 3rd and 4th matches of the weekend.
On Saturday, Andy notched 9 kills and served lights out. While scoring 2 aces his accurate, hard serving forced the opposition into trouble repeatedly and was a key factor in the success of the Chargers transition game. The Chargers would take the match 3-0 with set scores of 25-11, 25-13, 25-10.
On Sunday, Inglis had perhaps his most complete game as a Charger. He connected with his setter for 23 kills, scored 3 aces form the service line and had 7 digs on hard swings from the opponent wing spikers. The Chargers would win the match but dropped a set as they took it 3-1 and sets scores of 25-21, 20-25, 25-22, 25-16.
A fierce competitor, Inglis’ 37 weekend points, including 5 clean ace serves, was the high total for the team. More importantly, his consistent serves kept the passers guessing and his presence as a back row threat kept the blocker honest from start to finish.
Jeremy Finn is a 3rd year Left Side player from Westbank, B.C. At 6’2”, Finn had a breakout weekend in back to back 3-0 Charger wins. With Camosun sitting in 4th spot in the men’s division, the Chargers were looking to gain some ground on the pack. Finn was instrumental in that effort.
On Friday night he was an offensive force, leading Camosun with 13 kills and an ace serve. He supported those numbers by anchoring the passing with a 2.6 average and making a number of outstanding defensive saves at key points in the match. On Saturday, Jeremy continued his solid passing with a 2.25 average and once again was a dominant offensive force with 2 service aces, 2 block points and 7 kills.
Overall, Jeremy’s 24 points was the high total for the Chargers and was a key factor in the successive wins. However, the statistics don’t cover the many serves he made that put CBC in trouble or the block touches that resulted in converted transition opportunities - the key intangibles that powered the Chargers to victory.
On Saturday, Zaytsoff he had an incredible offensive display, where he hit 0.900 with 21 kills in 3 sets. He showed his full arsenal of shots resulting in an outstanding offensive impact for the Mariners. Zaytsoff’s leadership and statistical numbers on Saturday were very impressive again in the 3-0 Mariner victory. Along with his 21 kills, he added 10 digs, a block and service ace and passed an impressive 2.40 on Saturday.
During Friday night’s match, Zaytsoff put together a very well rounded performance with 23 kills, 6 digs, 2 blocks and a service ace while passing an average of 2.51 for the match. His combined efforts both defensively, offensively provided the energy to lead the Mariners to the 3-2 victory over the Blues.
Tory Zaytsoff is a 3rd Year outstanding Left Side Attacker from Nelson, B.C. After spending two seasons with the Selkirk College Saints in 2008-09 and 2009-10, Zaytsoff took a few years off. He eventually made his way down to the coast where he found himself in Nanaimo. Zaytsoff had an enormous weekend against the Blues putting together 2 fabulous matches in the Mariners home opener in Nanaimo. He was almost unstoppable in both matches combining for 49 total offensive points over the weekend.