St. Mary setter Lefebvre commits to Brandon

Submitted Photo Matt Lefebvre has committed to the Brandon University Bobcats for the fall of 2025.

It’s a dream come true for Matt Lefebvre. The graduating St. Mary setter has committed to play for the Brandon University Bobcats this coming fall.

Lefebvre says he is thrilled for the opportunity to continue his volleyball career.

“It’s kind of hard to put into words. I put so much work into my position, just everything volleyball wise and academically to get into university is a pretty big deal for me. I’m really looking forward to it. It’s a great group of guys over in Brandon, really good coaching staff, good team and I’m over the moon.”

Lefebvre spent the last two seasons playing on the senior boys volleyball team with the St. Mary Marauders during the high school season. During the club season, he suited up for the Smashing Bananas volleyball program.

After approaching his high school coach Rene Quintal, the recruiting process opened and several schools were contacted about Lefebvre’s interest to play at the post secondary level.

Quintal says Lefebvre was always trying to improve and he wasn’t surprised in the slightest when Lefebvre approached him about playing at the post-secondary level.

“He really developed a keen interest in volleyball, starting in May of his grade 10 year. You could really see him finally growing into his big frame, and he was becoming a lot more accurate in his sets. He was always coming to ask him questions like ‘I see this pro setter doing this, and I think I should change this technique’ and ‘what if I did this?. The questions he was asking, I wasn’t surprised at all that he was looking to find a spot to continue his career beyond high school.”

While Prince Albert does not host a post-secondary volleyball team, Lefebvre often found his way into the gymnasium to watch games. Lefebvre would often make the trip down to Saskatoon to watch the University of Saskatchewan Huskies.

Lefebvre says he enjoyed watching the games and learning as much as he could from even the smallest details from the setters from the teams he was watching.

“Being a setter at post-secondary level always intrigued me, there’s so much more layers to being a setter at that high level and I’ve watched a bunch of matches at U of S and seen the different strategies and techniques that they use and I’m excited to be able to learn some of that and be a U SPORTS setter, that’s what I’ve wanted to do for a while.”

Quintal says Lefebvre has shown an interest in learning everything he can about the sport of volleyball, which has helped him become a better player

“Matt’s developed into a real student of the game. He has a real appreciation for becoming better technically at the game. I was doing a lot of work outside practice and matches, just analyzing his performance and trying to work on refining and setting technique to have a better, more consistent set to the outsides.”

Lefebvre first got involved in the sport of volleyball with the Prince Albert Atomic Volleyball program when he was in grade 2, which was coached by Quintal. He has also watched plenty of volleyball growing up when his older cousin Danny Martin suited up for St. Mary.

Lefebvre says playing for a U SPORTS program has been an aspiration for his entire high school career.

“It’s been my goal for a lot of years now. Since I got into high school, I always had my sights set on U SPORTS. I’m just excited to be a part of it. The physicality of the other players is amazing. Just being able to be a part of such a competitive league, like the Canada West is.”

During his Grade 11 season, Lefebvre was part of a historic achievement for the St. Mary Marauder volleyball program. In 2023, both the senior boys and girls teams took home the provincial gold in Prince Albert, the only time in school history that St. Mary has accomplished the feat.

Lefebvre says playing in big moments in his high school career will help him moving forward into the U SPORTS level.

“I have no bad things to say about this program, it’s helped me play the sport that I love for so many years and I’ve had some great experiences last year winning provincials and then coming up short this year, it’s all development for me as a player and I think it will benefit me at the next level.”

According to a press release issued by the Prince Albert Sports Hall of Fame, 36 players that have been coached by Quintal at St. Mary and other Prince Albert volleyball programs have gone on to play at the post-secondary level.

“I think it reaffirms some of the values that we preach in our gym.” Quintal says. “Whether it’s off the court conditioning, whether it’s on the courts and the fundamentals that we stress. And I think it’s a real source of pride that the team atmosphere that we promote and that students are able to fulfill their dreams just based on the hard work and the effort. The athletes push each other in practice every day.”

Lefebvre indicated he plans to study business administration in Brandon with career goals to become an accountant.

sports@paherald.sk.ca

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