The Saskatchewan Huskies men’s volleyball team hosts the Manitoba Bisons this weekend and at this point in the season, every game is crucial.
They will be counting on their lone fifth-year player Colin Fraser more and more down the stretch.
He is currently fifth in the Canada West with a .291 hitting percentage this season.
Fraser is hoping the Huskies can return to the post-season in his final year after missing the U Sports playoffs the last two.
“We’ve been disappointed in our results for the past couple of years, so finally getting over that hump would be massive and a great way to finish a career,” Fraser said.
“We emphasize all our weekends as being important, but obviously coming down this stretch, it’s more important as you lose a couple games, there’s a big swing in the standings. So this is really an important weekend for us.”
Fraser is also showing by example that to truly succeed, players need to also excel in the classroom.
The business student has been on Huskie Athletics’ second team all-academic list every year.
“As I’ve been getting older, it’s been really important to me that I pass that on and show the younger guys exactly what it takes to be a good athlete but also a good student which is the most important part of being a student-athlete,” Fraser said.
“I’ve been fortunate to have some good leaders ahead of me, which have really helped me along the way too.”
“As a first-year, there’s ups and downs obviously through skill and academics and just seeing that if you put that hard work in, like Colin, and you stay positive like him, there’s no real cap to what you can achieve,” first-year Huskie Nathan Seidel said.
Saskatchewan is back in action this weekend after a bye. The team felt the break in the schedule came at a great time.
“The bye week was important for us, leading into this weekend versus Manitoba, it’s an extremely important weekend … getting above that .500 but also in the playoff implication,” Huskies head coach Nathan Bennett said.
“If we can take care of home court here against Manitoba, it puts us in a pretty good position going forward into the playoffs.”
The Huskies currently sit in sixth place in the Canada West and are going into this pivotal weekend with a 7-7 record.
Manitoba is nipping at their heels just two points back at 6-8. The Bisons have not missed the post-season since 2013-14 and are currently clinching to the eighth and final spot.
The Huskies host the Bisons Friday and Saturday at the Physical Activity Complex (PAC) in Saskatoon.
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