The streak is over, but the drive to greatness continues for the Camosun Chargers men’s volleyball team.
Coach Charles Parkinson’s defending national Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association champions dropped a tough 3-2 match at the University of Fraser Valley last Saturday, losing 25-21, 24-26, 22-25, 25-19, 9-15 to snap an impressive 25-0 match streak.
It was the first setback in just under a full year as the Chargers enjoyed a solid run through the latter of the 2014-15 season — which ended in the national title — and unblemished start to 2015-16.
“We knew it was going to be a battle because we had beat them in five in the first half. We knew they were hurting and they were hungry to get back at us,” said Parkinson, who was not with the team, instead a part of the broadcast crew for the Olympic men’s qualifier in Edmonton where Canada fell short.
Going to a fifth set against UFV was not a surprise. In fact, the Chargers pulled out a five-setter the night before, winning 23-25, 25-21, 21-25, 25-22, 15-12. In November, Camosun eked out a 19-25, 26-28, 25-23, 27-25, 15-13 win over the same club.
“What I say to most people in sports, especially in volleyball, is it’s not whether you’re going to lose, it’s just when,” said Parkinson. “When you get a streak going like this, it’s difficult to maintain. Every match that you play in, everybody wants to be the team to take you down.
“You have to be incredibly resilient and if you don’t play to your absolute potential every single night, somebody is going to knock you off.”
It finally happened after the 25-0 match run, which is pretty incredible when you break it down.
“It was a pretty special period for us, but the reality is, I’m not glad we lost, but I’m glad that if we were to lose, we do it early in the second half because it makes the guys realize we still have a lot of work to do,” stressed Parkinson.
As the saying goes, a little adversity is a good thing.
“The second half seems to go so much more quickly because there is less preparation time. You go straight back into competition and then it’s the playoffs. Every cloud has a silver lining, I suppose, and the fact that we’ve been knocked of the pedestal is good for us,” said Parkinson, whose 13-1 Chargers play host to 0-14 Columbia Bible College on Friday and Saturday.
The following week, Camosun is off to face second place Douglas College (9-3).
“I said to the guys, the first three weeks of the second half is important to us with Fraser Valley at No. 3, Columbia, which isn’t in the mix, but in Week 3 we play Douglas College, which is second,” said Parkinson. “The good side is we get tough matches out of the way early, but the difficulty is you have to be at your best early and it doesn’t allow you to work into it. These first three weekends are critical.”
In women’s play, the Chargers — who won bronze nationally last year — are coming off two losses at UFV and sit tied for second in the Pacwest standings with Capilano University at 8-6, behind front-runners Vancouver Island University at 12-2.
The women will also face Columbia Bible College (3-11) Friday and Saturday at PISE. The women play at 6 p.m. and 1 p.m., respectively, those two days, while the men follow at 8 p.m. and 3 p.m.
HOOPS NOTES: Camosun’s Matt Hampton was named men’s Pacwest player of the week after totalling 44 points in a pair of wins over Kwantlen for the 5-4 Chargers, who sit fourth in the standings. The women are 3-6 (tied for fifth) and both teams travel to Langara this weekend
