Douglas Preview > Volleyball playoffs edition Davie Wong Sports Editor t’s that time of year again. Seasons are wrapping up and the playoffs are around the corner. Well, to be exact, volleyball playoffs are this week. So here’s a look at the Royals’ matchups. Men’s Volleyball: The men’s excellent regular season record has earned then a bye into the semifinals. They will play the winners of the VIU Mariners vs. Capilano Blues matchup. In my opinion, I foresee the Mariners winning their quarterfinals and moving to play the Royals. Should this happen, the Royals are in for a tough challenge. They’ve played the Mariners four times this season, winning three of the four games but never cleanly sweeping them. If anyone is going to upset the Royals, it'll be the Mariners. Should the Royals win, they'll likely be up against the third best team in the country according to the CCAA rankings, the defending champion Camosun Chargers. If it comes to this, it will easily be the match of the year. The two teams have met four times this season as well, with them both taking two games, but the Chargers have the definite edge. No one has pushed the Chargers like the Royals have. Likewise, no one has soundly beat the Royals like the Chargers have this season. The last time these two met up, the games were closer than stitches in volleyball A good bye shorts. Look forward to this game should it happen. The key for the Royals this weekend will be the coaching. Coach Brad Hudson has done an excellent job with shaping his roster this season, and there is no doubt that the Royals easily have the deepest pool of players out of all the teams in PACWEST and arguably the CCAA. That being said, it’s sometimes difficult for coaches to recognize when a player is having an off-night. If the matchups I predicted end up being true, there will be no room for slumping players. Coach Hudson needs to be brutal and decisive about who is on the court, and when to pull someone off. If the right players are on the court at the right times, I have no doubt that the Royals will be able to bring home the title this year. Women’s Volleyball: It has been a year of trials and tribulations for the women’s volleyball team, but they've made it. They are in the playoffs, no matter what their seed is. They have had a season that they can be proud of. Now comes the hard part. Meeting the Royals for their first challenge will the fifth- seeded UFV Cascades. The two teams have played four times this year with the Royals sweeping the series. They have also swept two out of four games against UFV. Nonetheless, it’s best to never underestimate one’s opponent. The Cascades will be coming in hungry, and they’ve shown that they can push the Royals, as the > Men's volleyball finishes in the top two Davie Wong Sports Editor Wi a season it has been for the men’s volleyball program. This week they wrapped up their regular season with back-to-back contests against the Capilano Blues. The first of the two games was played at home on Thursday. The home closer did not disappoint in terms of excitement. Perhaps a little too much excitement for a team of this calibre, but the crowd loved it. The first set went exactly as planned by coach Brad Hudson. The Blues had trouble getting anything past the front line of the Royals. Everything they threw up was blocked or thrown right back at them. The home team convincingly took the set 25-16. The second set was a little messy. There was lots of misplaying from both teams are they traded possession nearly every other point. They rallied back and forth until the 20s, when the Royals pulled the trigger and finished it. They took that set 25- 22. The third played very much like the second, except instead of both teams playing poorly, Capilano played extremely well, and forced the Royals into tough situations they didn’t expect to be in. But the home team never looked like they lost control. If anything, it seemed like they were having a bit of fun. The Royals finished the set 25-23 and swept the game 3-0. The second of the two games was played on Capilano’s court on Friday. The Douglas squad that showed to play on Friday, looked much different than the squad that showed up the day before. last time these two played, it went to five sets. The Royals need to end them quickly if they hope to move on. They cannot allow UFV to get any momentum. This means cracking down on misplays and not gifting leads to start a set. Should they make it through UFV, waiting to say hello to them on the other side is none other than the second best team in the country according to the CCAA rankings, the VIU Mariners. I’m not going to lie, this will be an extremely tough matchup if it comes to pass. The Royals have played the Mariners four times this season and lost every time. However, they’ve only been swept by the Mariners once. It will take some serious planning, a Gone were the antics, misplays, and playing around. The first set of the night picked up right where they left off the night prior. Capilano once again showcased that they can PROVINCIAL VOLLEYBALL HOSTED BY COLUMBIA BIBLE COLLEGE tremendous amount of skill, and more than likely, a few buckets of luck, for the Royals to pull off an upset here, but it is possible. Should they win, they will face off against the Camosun Chargers or the Capilano Blues. But if the Royals can beat the Mariners, then they could likely beat anyone. The key to this weekend will be mental toughness and diversity. The team needs to be prepared for the situation that they drop two sets, and still try to pull off a win. In the past, this team has had a history of dropping two sets and getting blown out in the third. While they have shown that they can come back, the team will need to bea lot more prepared for this give good teams a run for their money. They went all the way to the final two points to decide a winner. In the end, it was the Royals who had the ability slam it home and take the set 25-23. Photo by Davie Wong CHAMPIONSHIPS J Image via pacwestbc.ca scenario during the playoffs. The Royals will need to be ready for the emotional and physical strain that the playoffs bring as they are a very emotionally driven team. The team will need to utilize or create a deep bag of tricks and switches to keep other teams on their toes. At the moment, the team strategy is fairly straightforward, and most losses have come when teams find out how to shut that strategy down. For the playoffs to be a successful story for the Royals, they need to add diversity to their play; perhaps shift roles around for a play or two, or even a set. The team has a talented roster with players that can fill multiple roles. It'll be about whether they can pull it off. Unfortunately for the Blues, the good news ended there. The Royals began their methodical disassembling of the other team, as they have this entire season. Picking their spots, the Douglas players were practically spiking with laser-point accuracy. There was little the Blues could do as the Royals rolled over them in the second set, 25-18. After that, you'd think there'd be a little mercy, but no one seemed to know the definition of that word. The third set was a slaughter. The men made no mistakes as they tore apart the Blues on their court and sent a statement to whoever they may be playing in the playoffs. With the two wins, they move to 20-4 and secure a top two finish, which guarantees a semifinal berth.