The St. Thomas Tommies took a long and winding road to the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association men’s volleyball championship tournament in Victoria, B.C.

But as far as Tommies coach Henri Mallet was concerned, it was an incredible journey.

The Tommies finished the Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association schedule with an 8-8 regular season record, in third place in the five-team circuit. They staggered down the stretch, losing to the Holland College Hurricanes in straight sets and the Université de Ste. Anne Dragons 3-2 on home floor on the final weekend of the regular season.

But at the ACAA championship tournament at UNBSJ, they knocked off the two teams that finished ahead of them in the standings, edging the Hurricanes 3-2 in a see-saw semifinal and then defeating Ste. Anne 3-1 in the championship final to earn their ticket west.

“I never felt we were an 8-8 team,” said Mallet. “I think we had five or six five-setters through the year, and we were only able to win one of them. You flip a few of those, and you’re a 10-6 or 11-5 team.”

In fact, there were seven of the 16 regular season matches that went the maximum five sets and the Tommies came out on top just once. But they rose to the occasion when it mattered most.

“We knew if we played, it was ours to lose,” said Mallet. “We were going into the ACAAs with full confidence. And the guys just responded. We played like a bunch of fourth- and fifth-year guys…never panicked. Even in the semifinals, we were down quite a bit in the fifth set and I didn’t call a time out. The guys were just calm and collected. Didn’t ride the wave of emotions that the ACAA (tournament) brings. They made my job really easy.”

Let it be said: the Tommies were not “a bunch of fourth- and fifth-year guys.”

They were, in fact, a bunch of first- and second-year guys – only libero Brendan Murphy, who was an assistant coach until activated after Christmas for the second semester, and third-year captain Austin Hamilton graduate from this group.

Murphy was enrolled in Education and the Tommies felt they had the depth to replace him at libero, but injuries surfaced and Mallet asked Murphy to return to active duty.

“What he brought to the court was really what we needed at that time,” Mallet said.

Winning the ACAA championship and progressing to the CCAA National Championship for the third time in five seasons – one of those years was lost to COVID – was not a huge surprise as far as Mallet was concerned. But as it turned out, getting there was only half the battle.

The Tommies were supposed to fly out of Fredericton in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, booked to leave on a 5 a.m. flight to Toronto to make connections west. At 3 a.m., they were informed their flight was canceled due to mechanical issues.

They reconvened the next morning and landed in Victoria at 10:30 a.m. Pacific time – about a half hour before their scheduled practice time at Victoria’s Camosun College. Practice was rescheduled until later in the day. The Tommies had also had issues with the host hotel and had to check into one nearby.

“That actually worked out pretty well, because we had our own hotel, our own video room, and our own pool. The rooms were bigger, and they were suites, so with two guys to a room, they each had their own room. And the people at the hotel were great to us.”

Still, it represented adversity.

“A lot of curve balls were thrown at us,” Mallet said. “But like in the ACAA finals, the guys just responded. There’s stuff we do control, stuff we don’t…we don’t control that, it doesn’t matter, we just show up and play.”

In fact, they were first up when tournament play began the following day at 12 p.m. Pacific time against the VIU Mariners of Naniamo, B.C. – who, of course, did not have to contend with the four-hour time difference between the Pacific and Atlantic time zones. The Tommies were swept in straight sets, losing 23-25, 19-25, 21-25. VIU’s Lucas Torres, named a second-team tournament all-star, had 15 kills and 18 points in that match. Brenton Romanchuk led the Tommies with nine kills.

On Friday, once again in the first match of the day, the Tommies took on the Fanshawe Falcons of London, Ont., where they fell in five sets, losing the final set 15-13. They closed out the tournament with a 3-1 loss to host Camosun.

But Mallet believes next season’s Tommies will be better for the experience.

“We gained a lot of experience,” he said. “The CCAA tournament is a different beast. It’s a whole different level. But I’m very happy with the way the guys competed. Even in situations where guys might have been uncomfortable, they just went out there and played.”

The Tommies got to hang around Victoria an extra day before beginning the long trek home. They left the west Monday evening and flew Victoria to Vancouver to Montreal to Moncton, landing in the hub at 10:30 on Tuesday morning.

For Mallet, the work doesn’t stop. He’s putting the finishing touches on recruiting for next season and expects to be stronger next year than the season just passed. And coming right up is the annual high school tournament, which will feature a record 172 boys and girls teams from across New Brunswick.