Prior to the start of Manitoba’s Saturday night rematch with 4-3 Mount Royal, leader and captain Spencer Grahame made a powerful statement to his team.
“We’ve got to prove ourselves tonight,” he said directly, but calmy.
“We’ve got to best the best team out there. We’ve got to be the best teammates today. We’ve got to push each other. That’s a good team over there, and they did not prove it last night. Today, we go. Trust one another. Be yourself out there. Don’t try to be someone different.”
The night before, Manitoba’s energy was low. They were swept in three, and everyone within the locker room knew they were better than the result.
The message pre and post-game from head coach Arnd ‘Lupo’ Ludwig, was clear.
“Yesterday, Lupo wasn’t happy with the way we were playing. The main thing was just our energy,” said left side Eric Oganrako. “We weren’t celebrating hard, it wasn’t natural. We just had to find a way to find the fun again in playing.”
Manitoba did just that on Saturday at IGAC. A night after being out-blocked 17-9 (a rare occurrence for the second-ranked team in that category), the Herd returned to form, tallying 15 assisted blocks and two solos to improve to 4-4, right in the hunt in the deep CanWest conference.
A deep Manitoba roster has seen rotation to their starting lineup at times. It’s allowed everyone to step up when needed, and today that came from Ogaranko, and middle Harrison Ens.
Neither started on Friday, but today their numbers were called and they answered, as did the rest of the ‘Zoons, whose passion and energy carried them through a challenging four-set contest which saw the first two sets go to extra points.
Ens had three kills on five attacks and three assisted blocks, while Ogaranko tallied 11 kills and three assisted blocks. Ben Carleton and Grahame added 19 kills, while middle Jordon Heppner and setter Sammy Ludwig also got in on the block party.
“We have to be team first, and not the individual. That was one of the big things yesterday. Eric did a great job coming off the bench and starting, Harry [Ens] did too for Jonah [Dueck]. He had a good game,” said Ludwig.
“Our strength is our depth. We need to use this depth. That’s what we did today. There was more energy. We actually believed in ourselves, and we didn’t stop playing.”
Ens and Ogaranko combined for five kills in the first, setting the tone for the match, with Carleton ending the set with back-to-back aces. The Cougars had battled back from six down, to tie, but that’s when the Aussie shut the door.
The second also went to extras, with a combined ten assisted blocks making the difference for Manitoba. The set was ended on a double block from Grahame and Ens.
The Cougars leaned heavily on leading attacker Chris Byam in the match. He had a game-high 21 kills on a .310 hitting percentage, while Jacob van Geel added 11 kills, as the visitors took the third 25-16.
In the fourth, Manitoba’s powerful block, service pressure and team energy helped to close things out.
Sammy pulled off a spin-around cross-court kill, Ogaranko added three in a row, including a c-ball that painted the back line, and Heppner rocketed a late ace. A diving dig from Oganranko later led to a three-point run that closed out the game.
“Our whole team knew we needed to bring something,” said Ogaranko.
“I’m kind of a quieter guy. To be honest, I just made it a goal to scream my butt off. Everyone did that on the whole team. That really was what gave us the energy to pull it out.”
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