Eric Loeppky and his top-ranked Trinity Western University volleyball team were on a roll.
Having won the Canada West title for the fourth time in five years, the B.C.-based Spartans headed to Winnipeg for last weekend's national championship. They arrived the Tuesday before "with full hopes of playing."
"If you had told us then that it was going to be cancelled, we probably wouldn't have believed you," Loeppky said.
On Wednesday evening, the 21-year-old from Steinbach, Man., was named U Sports men's volleyball player of the year. "A pretty special evening," he recalled.
The Spartans practised Thursday, then were told only family members would get to watch the competition to limit the crowd because of the COVID-19 outbreak. The opening session Friday had been a sellout of 3,000 to 4,000 with Trinity Western playing host Manitoba.
Things went downhill quickly after that.
"It went from only families to only 50 people to only players, coaches, referees to possibly even having only 25 per team," Loeppky said. "And we have a lot of coaches and extra support staff, so some of them were maybe not going to even be allowed to watch.
"And then we had a team meeting Thursday night and BenJo (coach Ben Josephson) kind of just broke the news and told us (the event was cancelled). Everyone was in shock — we were like 'Wow, this is actually happening.'
"We just took a couple of minutes to take it in. Some guys were saying some stuff. Then it just turned into some grown men crying it out for 20 minutes. Because we didn't get the chance to play with each other again."
While the world has since seemingly spiralled further out of control away from the field of sports, it was a sudden, shocking end to a special team and a special season.
Loeppky's team went 20-2 in Canada West play and 34-6 in all competitions. In December, the Spartans defeated U.S. volleyball powerhouses in fourth-ranked Long Beach State (two-time defending NCAA champion), No. 2 UCLA and No. 6 Lewis University at the Can Am Volleyball Showcase in Toronto.
Loeppky was a big part of that success. Josephson, a former all-Canadian who has coached the Spartans since 2007, calls him a "once-in-a-generation player" whose standard of play is consistently high.
Defending U Sports champion, Trinity Western was bidding to become the first men's team to win four national titles in five years. It has won six national championships overall, including five in the last nine years.
"We won Can West (defeating Alberta) and our focus was like it's sweet we won but our real focus was the national tournament, so we didn't really celebrate that win too much," Loeppky said. "So we kind of wish we would have celebrated it a bit more. We never really had like a true last-game celebration. It's kind of like it just got cut off and like it doesn't almost feel right that it's over, like maybe we'll play again. But I don't think we will. So it's kind of weird to digest."
Consider the fact that the only non-Canada-West team to win the men's volleyball national crown over the last 25 competitions was Laval in 2012-13.
"Can West is a harder banner to win, just because the Can West conference is so strong," said Loeppky, a six-foot-five outside hitter.
The Spartans set school records during the season with 19 consecutive victories and 34 straight home set wins. Trinity Western finished atop Canada West in kills per set (12.64), hitting percentage (.380), assists per set (11.76), aces per set (2.32) and points per set (17.2).
"I feel like this group was really special. It hadn't been fully pushed really that much all season," Loeppky said. "So this was like crunch time. We were ready to show everyone what we were made of and what we've got. It's just too bad we never got that chance."
The championship field included No. 2 Montreal, No. 3 Queen's, No. 4 Alberta, No. 5 Toronto, No. 6 McMaster, No. 7 Laval and No. 8 Manitoba.
While most of the players returned last Friday, Loeppky spent a few days at home with his family before returning home Monday. He is now taking classes online — he's majoring in education — and pondering his future.
"It's kind of weird now. I don't really know the exact schedule with how things are going to play out. But I'm hoping to go overseas in the fall to play professionally. And I was planning on spending my summer at the national team training centre just outside of Ottawa. But honestly everything's pretty up in the air right now."
Loeppky has played for the national team and was a member of its long list but did not take part in Olympic qualifying. He hopes that might change but is realistic.
"I'm one of the young guys right now and if I don't make I totally understand. I just don't want to have any regrets when it comes to working hard and training."
The national team is somewhat in limbo. The Nations League has been called off and a question mark hangs over the Tokyo Olympics.
As for playing professionally, Loeppky says Italy probably has the best league with Poland, Russia and Brazil also strong. France and Germany are also good leagues.
"I think the most important thing for me next season is to just play and get experience," he said. "I don't want to take a spot on the bench because then it's kind of hard to move up from there."
Growing up, volleyball was always his game. His father was a good beach volleyball player, finishing second to Brazil at the World Masters.
"I've been kind of around the game ever since can remember ... I did well at other sports but volleyball has always been my true love," he said.
Coming from a small town himself, he was drawn to Trinity Western because it wasn't too big — based in Langley, it has some 5,000 students — had a good academic reputation and a great volleyball team.
"All the boxes checked off for me," he said.
Another plus was TWU is a school with a faith-based culture.
"I knew it would be a good environment for me. I grew up with a faith background. I know it's not for everyone and not everyone on our team has a faith background but everyone has kind of bought into the culture of the school. And I think that's one of the reasons why our team's successful."
The top-seeded Trinity Western women also missed their chance at a national title after winning the Canada West crown, with the women's championship in Calgary called off.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 18, 2020.
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Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
