‘Not starting completely at zero’

Rowan Krahn has been told most of his career that he couldn’t do it. And recently, injuries wouldn’t let him.

For the first time in two years, Krahn gets to prove he can.

The Manitoba Bisons’ fifth-year outside hitter is undersized for his position.

It’s always been that way. Since he was a teen, talent evaluators have recommended that he play libero, a conventional position for a shorter player. That advice has largely fallen on deaf ears.

Krahn doesn’t have long arms; his standing reach barely touches the top of the net. He does, however, possess a strong vertical jump and a powerful right arm that makes up for any size disadvantage.

The 22-year-old is acutely aware that his 6-1 frame doesn’t check some of the traditional boxes, but something is motivating about overcoming defenders who are five, six or even seven inches taller than him.

“I think there were two big reasons: I think one was just the initial thought of, ‘I’m gonna prove them wrong and show that a smaller person on the left side can be successful as they move up the levels,’” Krahn said.

“That paired with, I’d say I was honestly the luckiest person ever through my developmental stages of volleyball. I had the greatest coaches I could have ever asked for, and the biggest thing about that is they always had 100 per cent trust in me, and they were never the ones saying, ‘You can’t do this.’”

For the last two seasons, however, Krahn really couldn’t do it. During Krahn’s second season with the Bisons, he began to struggle with hip pain that eventually took him out of the lineup and ended his season after 10 matches.

The eventual diagnosis was twofold: Krahn had torn his labrum, an injury that stemmed from a misshapen hip socket.

A Durolane injection was later administered to help lubricate his hips, but the pain only worsened. Krahn opted for surgery ahead of the following season, but that came with the price of an extended absence from the court.

“My last two years have been far from a regular student-athlete volleyball career,” said Krahn, who is calloused in injury management. He also dealt with severe lower back pain during his first year, which helped him mentally during an arduous rehabilitation process.

Still, at times, Krahn couldn’t help but think how unfair it was to be dealt a cruel fate.

“I feel like it’s natural that that pops in your head. The bummer was that it was going into my third and fourth year, which is starting to move towards my older side of the career, where, who knows where my role could have been?” he said.

“But when it really came down to it, I couldn’t do anything during the day without being in pain. It affected my sleep a lot. Just my every day life was pretty miserable. So, it was time not only for my volleyball career but just for my personal life to get it done.”

Krahn returned to the court near the end of last season in a limited role, but the hope entering the 2026-27 campaign is that he can be unleashed.

This summer, the Bisons lost a couple of program staples in outside hitters Karil Dadesh-Adeh — who signed a pro contract in Italy — and Owen Weekes, who transferred to Long Beach State University in NCAA Division 1.

With their top two offensive weapons from a season ago gone, Krahn is among the group of returning vets who will be asked to fill the void, and the feeling is that he’s more than up to the task.

As far as his teammates are concerned, Krahn is going to pen one heck of a comeback story.

“I know he’s going to get opportunities on the court, and I just can’t wait to see him go up there because, when this guy’s healthy, he’s honestly a force to be reckoned with,” said Kai Boyko, who’s known Krahn since they were 16.

“He’s a little undersized, but the guy’s got some power, and he’s a good player.”

Boyko, who is entering his fourth year, is another player who will be tasked with providing offence on a more consistent basis.

Boyko started the first half of the 2024-25 campaign and has played in a substitution role for the better part of the last two seasons, but has shown he’s worthy of more playing time when given the opportunity.

That’s the downside of sharing a position with a pair of program cornerstones. The 21-year-old has taken it in stride, though, and feels primed to lead.

“To put the answer in short, last year, I like to think I was ready, but I think this year it’s a little bit of a different feeling,” Boyko said. “It’s more like you got to be ready, and it’s kind of ‘the time has come’ type thing.”

The Bisons open their season in Langley, B.C., against Trinity Western on Friday (9 p.m.) with a mix of veteran and young talent.

Along with Dadesh-Adeh and Weekes, the program’s overall depth took a massive hit in losing libero Josh Jehle, setter Alex Witt, outside hitters Eric Ogaranko and Spencer Grahame, and middles Jonah Dueck and Tyson Nachtigall.

Head coach Lupo Ludwig didn’t hide from the challenge that comes with losing that much high-power, veteran talent, but maintained confidence in the depth of his roster after adding seven recruits this summer.

“The thing is, we have a lot of new guys, but we also have guys who already battled with us for the last few years and kept the level really high in practices. So with Kai, with Ben (Kuhner), with Rowan, these are three outside hitters who have played already, had games where they started or played big roles in certain games. So we are not starting completely at zero,” Ludwig said.

“And then we know (middle) Jordy (Heppner) and (setter) Sammy (Ludwig). We have the two starters from last year; they will definitely make sure that we keep the culture that we built.”

With the turnover, the Bisons are still finding out who they are. And there’s a good chance it’ll take some time to figure that out. Beginning as the No. 3 ranked program in the country is certainly a vote of confidence from their opponents, though.

“It’s kind of been something I’ve been asking myself a little bit; guys have been trying to understand. There is a little bit of an unknown. We’d be lying if we didn’t say that. Guys like me, I haven’t had like a full season solidified starting role, and there’s going to be other guys like that this year,” said Boyko.

“It’s just a matter of, ‘OK, can we find what works for us this year in terms of how we’re gonna score, how we’re gonna defend, receive type thing.’ I think it’s a bit of an unknown, but also a bit of excitement and confidence in what we are capable of.”

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