Wesmen setter Tristan Arnold ready to meet the challenge

In a group that features some intriguing unknowns, Tristan Arnold is a certainty for the Winnipeg Wesmen.

The fifth-year setter and team captain enters his final men’s volleyball season as the unquestioned starter for the first time after spending most of his university career buried behind some talented players, then promoted briefly before bouncing between the bench and the floor.

It’s easy to see why the Glenlawn product is stoked for the upcoming campaign. This opportunity didn’t come without challenging his patience and some questions about his belonging in the sport he’s played from a young age.

“I’ve worked really hard to continue to play volleyball,” Arnold told the Free Press Tuesday. “There’s been a couple of times throughout my career where I’ve thought about packing it in, but I was just too committed to the boys, too committed to whoever I was playing for at the time.”

Arnold has taken the long way to this point. Before he arrived at the Wesmen, he won a national championship with the U18 Junior Bisons, but that hardly felt like a victory after being stapled to the bench for much of that run.

“That was really tough for me,” he said. “But I learned a lot from that, and learned a lot about how to contribute to a team in other ways than playing.”

Arnold appeared in five matches as a freshman, but in his words, largely “went back to being in the shadows and kind of being overlooked.”

That changed when head coach Chris Voth entered the picture in 2024. Voth gave Arnold an opportunity to make an impact in a serving/sub role, and the latter made good on that by logging a career-high nine service aces during the Wesmen’s conference championship run.

That alone illuminated a light that had been dimmed.

“That was a lesson I had to learn, and it’s a tough one to learn, and it took many years,” Arnold added. “But now that I’m able to step into this role in my last year in university, it’s a little daunting, but at the same time, I’m ready to meet the challenge.”

Arnold wasn’t a starter to begin last season, but was thrust into that role after a few games and didn’t relinquish those duties. Now, he’s viewed as the leader of a program that is packed with a lot of young players who are looking for a chance to prove themselves, much like Arnold has in the last few years.

“I’ve had such great teammates and captains over my career, and I looked up to them. Like Ethan Duncan is a name; Paxton Koop is a name; Alex Krykewich is a name. Those guys, I thought they were so cool and such great people, so now that I get this chance to be that guy for some of the younger guys, that’s my favourite part, I think, of this whole thing outside of performance and how we do as a team,” Arnold said.

“If I can be that figure to these young guys, that makes it for me, and I think that’s why I’m just gonna really cherish this year.”

Arnold is one of several pieces that remain from that Canada West championship-winning squad two years ago, but much like how that season began, this roster presents a lot of questions about how high its ceiling truly can be.

The Wesmen graduated the core of its leadership group from a season ago, including middle Koop, setter Krykewich, libero Carson Brennan and outside hitter Jaxon Rose.

That’s left some holes to be filled by younger, lesser-known talent in the starting lineup.

Admittedly, Voth doesn’t know exactly what he has in this group yet.

“It’s super difficult. We’re always looking for short-term success and long-term success. ‘How can we do well this season, and what’s going to help us in seasons to come?’” Voth said.

“This group (of veterans) has been together for a couple of years, even before I got here, and they have a lot of experience, and they know the league pretty well. So, I hope that they can continue along the path that they’re on, and as their role on court and as a leader also increases, I think that kind of makes for new team dynamics, and it just leads to a lot of excitement and a lot of new experiences for these guys.”

On a roster that has a wide range of talent, playing time will have to be earned regardless of experience level.

Voth didn’t commit to a starting lineup for this season’s opening weekend that sees the team on the road Friday and Saturday in Edmonton against MacEwan.

“I wouldn’t say set in stone. Maybe limestone,” he said. “We’ve been trying to get them together as much as possible so that they can also kind of find their stride as a unit and see how they can do it like that. I mean, we know who will start as of this present moment, but things can change obviously pretty quick. So we’ll have to kind of see how it goes day by day and week by week.”

Aside from Arnold, returning veterans Luke Lodewyks and Aidan Hruska are good bets to start on the outside. So, too, are 2025 national Rookie of the Year Easton Dick in the middle and libero Conor Rewniak, who earned valuable playing time when Brennan was injured last season.

Beyond that are some fascinating stories like middles Jackson Abiusi, who has played volleyball for only a few years, and Liam Allen, who had a four-year college baseball career in the U.S. before walking on with the Wesmen two seasons ago.

A lot remains up for grabs as the Wesmen begin their climb in hopes of reaching the top of the Canada West mountain.

“It just feels like we’re just at the surface of where we could be. Like our ceiling is so high as a team, and that makes me really excited,” said Arnold.

“I thought I would feel more sad about this being my last year, but like I’m just so pumped to compete with these guys and see what we can do because I feel like we’re gonna surprise some people.”

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