Blazers Close Out Regular Season, Look Ahead to Championships
A recap of this past week's varsity action & preview of MCAC playoffs
Blazers women's basketball went a perfect 12-0 in MCAC league play this season
Let the madness begin! The CMU Blazers closed out their regular seasons this past weekend, and will now look ahead to a full slate of MCAC Championship tournaments in the upcoming weeks. For the first time in conference history, all three indoor court sport championship tournaments will be held in March, due to the delayed start after the Christmas break.
Friday night the Blazers played host to the St Boniface Rouges in hoops action. The upstart Les Rouges, in their first full season in MCAC basketball, have struggled to find wins, especially for their women's squad, who sat winless on the season, and were in tough once again, facing a Blazers squad that had yet to drop a conference matchup. Prior to the match graduating players Shirliz Apiyo and Julia Schatkowsky were recognized for their accomplishments and role in pushing the program to new heights. The game was in the hands of the CMU side all evening, with all the healthy members of the team seeing plenty of court time. Rookie Oluwanifemi Gbadamosi led all scorers in the game with 17 points, as the Blazers came out with the 113-27 blowout win to cap off a perfect regular season.
On the men's side, the first place Blazers were facing a third place Les Rouges side that has made huge strides this season, and had captured their first win of the season following the break. Veteran shooting guard Seth McKenzie was honoured for his commitment to Blazers basketball in the final senior night ceremony of the year. A slow start by the home side had the Blazers trailing for the entire game. CMU managed to tie things up for a brief time in the fourth quarter, but St Boniface's ability to continually drive the basket as well as score from beyond the arc had the Blazers defence confounded. In the end, the Blazers took their only home loss of the season in a statement game from Les Rouges that clearly marks the men's side of the MCAC Championships wide open.
Saturday night the Assiniboine Cougars were in town for volleyball matches at the Loewen in a rare Saturday evening matchup between the two sides, due to the rescheduled game from early in the second half. Following a rough stretch of games that included losses to the league-leading Les Rouges as well as to the Providence Pilots, who sat above the Blazers in the standings going into the match, the CMU side was looking to gain confidence heading into Championship weekend against winless ACC. The Cougars didn't put up much of a fight against the Blazers, who had a response for every attack sent their way. In the end, it was a quick and painless affair, with the Blazers taking the match in straight sets. Outstanding graduate, and recently announced MCAC True Sport team member Chloe Friesen led all Blazers in kill efficiency at a rate of.625, while player of the match Sahra McKenzie led all outside hitters with a rate of.308 and added a substantial 11 digs to her stat line.
With playoff standings still very much in the balance, the Blazers men's squad looked to quash the hopes of an upset by the Cougars in the late game, despite not having thier star left side, Cam Gayleard, who was unavailable due to COVID protocols. It took some time for the home lineup to find their rhythm, dropping the first set in extra points, but they turned the tide and followed it up with three tidy set wins to take the match in four. CMU's middles factored in big in the win, with both Felix Stetefeld and Josh Werbiski running a kill efficiency North of.500 and 20 kills between the pair, while Matthew Page led all outsides with nine kills of his own from the right side.
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With the Blazer regular seasons all complete, most of the matchups are set for the upcoming Championships weekends.
In the basketball bracket, the three-team league calls for a semi-final matchup on Thursday night, which will see the Providence Pilots host the St Boniface Rouges in both women's and men's play, setting up a final on Friday night where the league leading Blazers squads will look to take advantage of their first-round byes and hope to finish atop the MCAC Championship podium. The Championship final will be held Friday night at 6PM for the women, and 8PM for the men at the Niverville Community Resource and Recreation Centre. Spectator limits have been removed, though mask use policies are still in place for the games. Tune in to Blazers on social media in the upcoming days for links to the livestream of the Championships.
This year's MCAC Volleyball Championships will be held at Assiniboine Community College in Brandon. With all league games now played, the St Boniface Rouges secured top seeding on the women's side, and will face the hosts Assiniboine Cougars in the first semi-final matchup at noon on Saturday. With identical win-loss records, your CMU Blazers will face the Providence Pilots in the second semi-final at 2PM for a chance to head to the Final on Sunday. On the men's side, the Blazers win over ACC on Saturday secured them the first seed heading into Championships, with Providence taking the second seed due to head-to-head record. This means the Blazers will face the last-place Les Rouges in the early men's semi-final at 4PM, while Providence plays the host Cougars at 6PM. Winners of the semi-final matchups will meet on Sunday afternoon with the women's Final held at 1PM, and the men following at 3PM. Spectator restrictions have been lifted for the volleyball tournament, though space limitations may come into play at the small Assiniboine Community College gym.
The final MCAC Championship tournament of the year will be for the futsal title on March 13. Due to inclement weather during the scheduled third leg of the season, finals matchups are yet to be set, as the Blazers are the only team who have completed their schedule. The final day of regular season matches will be held immediately prior to the Championships on March 12th, with seeding for the tournament coming out of that. Your Blazers women's squad currently sits in second in the standings, with all other teams holding games in hand, meaning the green and gold will likely land in fourth place, but could end as high as third, or even find themselves on the outside of the championship bracket. On the men's side the Blazers sit in first place, but will likely fall to second or third spot following the rest of league play. The MCAC Championships will take place at Universite de Saint-Boniface on March 13 in a single-day event that will include two semi-final matchups and a final for each gender packed into the day.
