Kodiaks volleyball eye championship runs this season

By Lethbridge Herald on October 13, 2022.

Herald photo by Dale Woodard Lethbridge College Kodiaks Liam Frost and Jeremiah Bohnert put up the block on Olds Broncos Matheus Franca in Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference play Saturday night at the Val Matteotti Gymnasium in this 2021 file photo.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The Lethbridge College Kodiaks volleyball  teams are set for the first spike of the season this weekend.

Men’s head coach Greg Gibos feels fortunate to see the majority of the student-athletes return from last season.

“So it’s always exciting to have some continuity and guys who have been in the program and have some long-term goals,” said Gibos.

“We were able to add some really high-level recruits which is also going to help push our current group and hopefully continue to build on the tradition and legacy that previous Kodiak men’s volleyball players have done. And then really just start to continue to grow that culture and that legacy of excellence that we’re really shooting for with inside of our program.”

A team goal is to fight for a bye past the first round of playoffs.

“And that means you’re either fighting for a first or second seed in the conference,” he said.

“You know you want to be the first place team in the south (or) the second place team in the south. You know I think that’s a real strong goal for us to get started and then once we get to conference championships, then we know the likelihood of facing the best teams in the country and we want to bring that banner home.”

The Kodiaks won back-to-back conference silver medals in 2019 and 2020 and missed out on national bronze in 2020.

“So for this group, they’ve always used things as incremental checklists,” he said.

“ And OK, we’ve got a win in playoffs and then we’ve got to win in semifinals, and then it’s OK we’ve gone to nationals and we’ve done that and I think they’re ready for that next big step. If you ask anyone of them, they don’t shy away from it, but they’ve got that big goal of bringing a banner back to Lethbridge.”

Gibos will look to rely on the likes of Nolan Moes, who as a second year last season received an All-Conference team award.

“It’s always exciting when you can return a league all-star, especially when they’re really still in the infancy of their careers from post-secondary,” he said.

“He’s going to be a big force for us offensively and actually blocking wise as well. He’s one of our best athletes at the net there.”

Offensively, the Kodiaks are expected to be led by former Catholic Central grad and fourth-year setter Nash Shipton.

“He’s one of the best at his position in the country,” said Gibos.

“Unfortunately, he broke his hand in preseason last year, which kind of limited his start in November of last year when the season actually got underway. So we’re excited to see what he can do with a full year of recovery, training with the offence and being back with those guys.”

Anna Schwark, Kodiaks women’s volleyball coach, thought it was a weird feeling recruiting over the spring and the summer, as she felt she wasn’t doing much because 15 of 18 players were returning this season.

“So I’m totally noticing a difference between having half a squad of new girls versus only having three,” said Schwark.

“It’s a lot easier for them to just  seamlessly fit in to our systems and communicate easier. They just kind of get engulfed by the culture we’ve already created. So I feel like we’re leaps and bounds further this preseason than we were at this time last preseason, which is really cool. We kind of work on some more advance stuff.”

Schwark will rely on sixth year left side Jamie Brown.

“She’s one of our co-captains,” she said.

“She’s going to have a huge presence .I think it’s going to be hard to not see her name everywhere. I think she’s going to get a lot of recognition this year. She was already on the stat leaderboards last semester. She’s one of the best outsides in the league. So really excited for her because she just still hasn’t hit her plateau.”

Mack Lewicki is another sixth year that will be called upon for this Kodiaks squad.

“She’s just such a strong passer and she’s got a really good head space to be a leader on the court,” said Schwark.

A main goal for the girls is to make it  to championships in Red Deer at the end of the season.

“I think if we keep the big things big and focus on ourselves and the culture and worrying about ourselves, I think we can find ourselves in the top two spots,” she said.

“As long as we get that first contact high in the middle of the court, we know that our setters can run a really good fast paced offense,” said Schwark.

Both teams will begin on the road at SAIT on Saturday.