Vipères volleyball take a voyage of discovery

In a year filled with positive movement and progress, the Collège Boréal Vipères may be ready to take their biggest step yet. Never in the school’s history has a volleyball team advanced to the playoffs.

The 2010-2011 edition of the men’s volleyball crew are poised to break that boundary, posting a record of 6-3 at the halfway mark of the campaign, tied for third in Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) standings.

With six teams moving on to post-season play, the Vipères have given themselves a little breathing room for their final nine games, though players and coach alike are not looking that far ahead.

With virtually the same core of players on the court, Boréal struggled to a 4-12 mark last year, though rookie head coach Ian Busch said that record can be deceiving. “We were a near miss last year,” he said. “We had games where we played up with the good teams, but we also played right down there with the bad teams.”

So what, exactly, has caused the dramatic turn around? The mere fact that each of the players who form the core of this squad can now draw on one additional year of OCAA experience, certainly pays dividends.

While long-time Boréal coach Shane St-Louis put the wheels in motion for the club that is enjoying such success these days, Busch brings a different approach than his predecessor.

“We’re positive — we don’t get down on ourselves, we don’t get down on anyone else, we help everybody out,” Horizon graduate Justin Smith said.

Busch, a native of North Bay, didn’t bring a lot of coaching experience to his role at Boréal, though he is clear in his approach with his players.

“The ability to pick yourself back up comes only from having permission to make mistakes,” Busch said. “If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not trying something new.”

A graduate of the University of Western Ontario Engineering program, Busch and his wife, who hails from Timmins, worked their way back north about 18 months ago, leaving the GTA when Busch accepted a job in Sudbury.

As luck would have it, a former co-worker with Busch had played baseball with St-Louis, and the two were introduced last year.

“I basically called (St-Louis) up and said that I had a huge background in volleyball, and that even if he needed me to shag balls, I just wanted to be involved,” Busch said.

Serving a year as an assistant coach, the assistant bench boss was propelled to the helm, with St-Louis making the move back to lead the Cambrian College men’s team.

Many players — including former Champlain setter Joseph Benoit, now entering his second year of post-secondary competition — have simply continued to improve.

“At the beginning, my hands were just decent – I would get called on a lot of ball touches,” Benoit said. “My defence, I think, has stepped up. I’m setting more consistently and working on my spin serves. I think I’m getting better and better every year, and I’m not done yet.”

The Vipères offensive attack has been imposing this year, and not just because 6-11 middle Eric Robert provides a mountain of a presence on the inside. Hitters Alex Piquette and Josh Deppisch both rank within the top 10 in the OCAA East in kills per game, which is little surprise to the man responsible for getting them the ball.

“When Josh and Alex are up in the air, they see the block, they see the defense, so they place the ball where they want to,” Benoit said.

Well, that’s partially true, according to Busch. “We still have times when the players will bail out... where they revert back to their high school ways of snapping a really tight, short ball down the line and get blocked most of the time,” Busch said. “That’s unacceptable, and I try and make them aware of that.”

While the coach believes that improved defense and more consistency in serving are needed to rank among the OCAA elite, the voyage that coaching provides has proved enlightening.

“I really enjoy the guys – the pack of guys I have are champs at heart,” Busch said. “Over the time that I’ve been coaching, I’ve learned a whole lot about myself.”

Randy Pascal is the founder of SudburySports.com and a contributing sports editor for Northern Life.