Bison briefs

Romer Bautista, Staff

Klassen and Ansah represent Bisons as conference second-team all-stars

Tessa Klassen of the Bison women’s basketball team and Isaac Ansah of the Bison men’s basketball team have each been selected to the Canada West second all-star team for the 2007-08 season.

This is the first such honour for Klassen, who is only in her second year with the team. After a terrific run in the playoffs last season, Klassen stepped into a starter’s role this year and continued to play great. She finished the year second on the team in scoring (12.7 points per game), first in three-point scoring (1.6 made per game), and second in steals (1.8 per game). Her play helped lead the Bisons to the playoffs.

For Ansah, this is the second consecutive season that he has been named a second-team conference all-star. His 21.8 scoring average in conference play easily led the team and was also the second highest scoring average in Canada West. Ansah also led the team in assists, steals and minutes.

Men’s volleyball to have father-son connection next season

The Bison men’s volleyball recruitment class for the 2008-09 season continues to get better. A week after announcing the commitment of Chris Voth, one of the top recruits in Canada, Bison volleyball head coach Garth Pischke, announced two more great recruits, one with a very familiar last name.

This past week, the Bisons announced the commitments of Dane Pischke out of Winnipeg and Steve Goertzen out of Winkler.

Dane is the son of Garth. But make no bones about it, this recruitment was all about his skill and potential. At six foot six, the younger Pischke was named the number-seven-ranked Manitoba high school volleyball player and was the recipient of the Dennis Nord Award, given to the high school graduating volleyball player of the year. He was also named to the All-Manitoba team and a graduating all-star this past season.

“[Dane’s] had a great career in volleyball already, winning three national championships as a player. I’ve had the opportunity to coach him for the last five years in club volleyball. He’s a six-foot-six right side player who jumps very well and possesses a very quick arm swing, which is going to bode real well at the university level,” commented the coach on his son.

Goertzen is a six-foot-seven middle hitter, who was also named to the Manitoba high school graduating all-star team. He started for the Team Manitoba that won gold at this past year’s Western Canada Summer Games.

“What I like about Steve is that he is a very athletic individual. He hasn’t played much club volleyball, but he is just learning the game, and I think that the level that he’s going to be playing at the university is very exciting for me. He touches over eleven feet and he’s very quick and strong. He’s going to develop very fast for us,” Pischke said.

Bisons honoured with CIS awards

Samantha Loewen, Ashley Voth and Amy Matthews of the Bison women’s volleyball team were honoured by the CIS for their terrific play during the 2007-08 season.

Loewen was named the CIS rookie of the year and a member of the CIS all-rookie team. Voth was named a first-team all-Canadian. And Matthews was named a second-team all-Canadian.