Huskies volleyball player has record-breaking season ahead of playoffs

It’s been a season to remember for the University of Saskatchewan men’s volleyball team.

The team finished fourth in the Canada West standings and was ranked sixth in U Sports at the end of the regular season, but rankings haven’t been the only remarkable note for the team this season.

Fifth-year player Dylan Mortensen broke two Canada West records during the final game of the regular season.

The Swift Current product set new marks for most career kills (1,490) and points (1,749.5) in the game against the University of Winnipeg Wesman last weekend, cementing his name in the record books.

“Coming into the league, I didn’t think that would ever be in the realm of possibilities,” Mortensen said. “I’m grateful that we’re able to get those achievements.”

He said he couldn’t have set the records without some help.

“I’m also grateful for my teammates, and the program that helped me get there,” he said. “It is a massive number, but at the end of the day I’d really like to go to nationals, too.

“So it ended up helping us winning a lot of games this year, which is great, but hopefully we can carry some of that momentum into the playoffs.”

The previous record was set in 2019 by Mount Royal’s Tyler Schmidt, who had 1,482 kills and 1,747 points.

But those records weren’t the only marks Mortensen set. He also finished the season with the most kills in U Sports, amassing 410 in total, 51 more than the runner up.

Surpassing those records wasn’t something Mortensen was thinking about when he started his volleyball career, but his coaches knew it was a possibility well before it happened.

“Early on in the season I knew he was climbing the charts – actually prior to the season – and the way the stats worked out was actually pretty heavily weighed against him achieving it,” Huskies head coach Sean McKay said.

“He needed to have a really really good season. Naturally, we had to push a couple games to five sets or four sets, but we did both of those and Mortensen was a big part of that.”

Mortensen even reached the records after redshirting in his first year with the Huskies in 2016-17.

“I was about 160 pounds, so I fully bought into the redshirt experience,” Mortensen said. “I was working out as much as I could, and then I had a good opportunity to get some good practice reps because there was no real second right-side on the team that year.”

But there was a point where he might not have ended up at the University of Saskatchewan at all.

“My mom went to U of R and my dad went to U of S, so I kind of always figured it would be between the two. I was actually thinking about staying in Swift Current my first year and going to play at the Great Plains College,” Mortensen said.

In the end, Mortensen said his dad’s alma mater won because he felt the volleyball scene was a bit better in Saskatoon. He said his mom would’ve liked to see him play at the U of R, but laughed when he said there were no heated debates about choosing where to play.

McKay hasn’t been the only coach Mortensen has had during his time with the Huskies, as he took over the program for the 2019-20 season. The two actually met for the first time at a McDonald’s in Swift Current.

“I just happened to be in Swift Current, so I wanted to have a chat with him because it was a quick turnover when I took the job,” McKay said.

Mortensen had been with the program for three years already, and McKay said he wanted to make sure they were on the right track.

McKay said a lot of the credit for Mortensen hitting these records goes to previous coaches during his development process, and of course the bulk goes to Mortensen himself.

“He’s the one going out and doing it on the weekends and putting up all those numbers, so if he can give me two or three per cent of the credit, I’ll take it,” McKay said with a laugh.

The court isn’t the only place where Mortensen is excelling. He’s a five-time U Sports Academic All-Canadian, a six-time Huskie Athletics First Team All-Academic and a six-time Edwards Dean List recipient.

Mortensen has earned his business undergrad degree and is working on completing his masters. He said he’s been surrounded by a good group of classmates who wanted to succeed academically.

He said his professors have also been a positive influence on him while playing volleyball.

“They’re very responsive and very supportive of my sports,” Mortensen said. “I don’t really like to do schoolwork on game days, so I leave it to the non-game days, but we make it work.”

For McKay, seeing Mortensen take it to the next level was special to watch.

“Athletes are the ones who set those records; it’s not the coaches. But we’re in this to see individual humans achieve great success together, but when they achieve that great success alone it’s still a pretty amazing feeling,” he said.

“Every time that student-athlete succeeds that you’ve worked with, you feel a bit of pride. This time it’s a lot of pride, but every time they succeed you feel something.”

After this season, Mortensen said he’s planning on taking his volleyball career overseas to play professionally, but there is still a task at home first.

Both Mortensen and McKay said the goal before the season was to make the national championships, and they’re working hard to make it a reality.

In order to get there, they’ll need to get through Canada West first, and will start with a quarterfinal match against the UBC Thunderbirds at the PAC on Friday.