COREY ATKINSON: Fort McMurray Today staff

Wednesday March 3, 2010:  While shopping in Fort McMurray, Southern Alberta Institute of Technology Trojans men's volleyball coach Ryan Marsden got two for the price of one.

Left side/right side Erik Kuhr and former Huskies setter Keegan Kuhr — both Father Patrick Mercredi High School grads — have joined the Trojans this year. Keegan is a back-up setter and Erik is redshirting, and both are considered valuable members of the present and future of the Trojans

And now Marsden and the Trojans have an ACAC championship for the first time in 25 years and a chance to win nationals at Grant MacEwan University.

"First, I thought I won the lottery when I got contacted," Marsden said. "Keegan had given me a heads-up that he was going to be taking a program here at SAIT and then (last year's Huskies coach) Trent Mason … was also courteous to give me a heads up."

Erik's interest in SAIT helped Keegan keep playing competitive volleyball.

"I talked to the coach and he said, 'Yeah, we need a backup setter,' and so I jumped all over that opportunity," Keegan said.

Marsden waited until the official contact was made between he and Keegan and found out the five-foot-10 setter would be taking a nutrition course at SAIT and wanted to try out for the volleyball team. Oh, and he has a six-foot-four brother who plays volleyball as well…

"It was a really (big) decision for me, getting Erik involved as well," said Marsden, who said Erik went into an architecture program. "It was perfect. It wasn't necessarily a package deal for them. They both wanted to play and it would be a bonus to play together, but right from Day 1 I knew I was going to take them both and have them be a part of this."

The SAIT setter from last year returned and Marsden said he's a little bit bigger and more physical that Keegan.

"But Keegan, with his awesome attitude and work ethic, played his way onto the team for sure," Marsden said. "He's contributed immensely both in games and in practice."

Erik has also improved in his redshirt year and Marsden is excited about what role he'll play next year.

"I've seen improvement (in) defence and in my whole getting low kind of thing," Erik said. "I've been having trouble with that since I'm six-foot-four and I'm trying to become smaller on the court. I also feel I've improved with my hitting when swinging — when to use my roll shot and when to just pound it."

Both Kuhrs will be at nationals, although Erik won't dress.

Keegan is the Kuhr with nationals experience and he'll have a little bit of time to tell his teammates about it.

"We've got 17 guys on our team and he's the only one with experience," Marsden said. "Having Keegan be a part of this team, he's always keeping his eye on the prize.

"He's all about (telling) the guys you need to do this in order to be successful. Guys listen to him and respect him enough from both his experiences and the way he carries himself."

Keegan isn't playing as big a role on the Trojans as he did the Huskies last season, but he is happy with his role right now.

"I'm doing what I was asked to do at the beginning of the year," Keegan said. "I'm basically going in if things aren't going too well and helping the team rally behind me and do whatever I can to contribute to the team."

Keegan learned from last year's short stint at provincials the value of hard work and the shock of losing so quickly.

"I wanted to pass on that knowledge to the other guys on the team that to make sure they understand it's no fun just being out right away, and not being able to go for that gold medal," Keegan said. "It changed around this year where I was finally able to reach what I've been trying to reach for the last four years."

For his part, Erik will try to learn as much as he can from the upcoming experience at nationals.

"I just want to learn from all the starters out there, how they're staying positive, how they're dealing with their mental capabilities and everything like that, and pretty much learn from them," Erik said. "Hopefully I'll be at nationals one day and I'll be able to have the exact same feeling that they had."