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UFV Sports Friday – Great Day For Hoops, Tough Night For Volleyball

Women’s Basketball: Cascades crush Heat hopes in third quarter, win by 29

A dominant third quarter paved the way for a decisive home-opening win for the University of the Fraser Valley women’s basketball team, as they rolled past the UBC Okanagan Heat 78-49 on Friday at the Envision Financial Athletic Centre.

The Cascades outscored the Heat 25-9 in the third, pushing an 11-point halftime lead beyond the 30-point threshold on their way to their first win of the young Canada West season.

Senior forward Taylor Claggett set the tone for the Cascades (1-2), racking up a game-high 19 points, and rookies Nikki Cabuco (13 points) and Deanna Tuchscherer (11 points) also stepped up offensively.

The Heat (1-4) were an injury-riddled group, with five players sidelined due to injury including top scorer Jaeli Ibbetson. They were led on Friday by Jordan Korol (15 points) and Tessa Burton (nine points).

The two teams clash once again on Saturday (5 p.m., EFAC) to wrap up the weekend series.

“It was a good quarter for us, for sure,” Cascades head coach Al Tuchscherer noted afterward. “We got some stops. They had a flurry where they missed some shots that maybe they would normally hit, and I think we just built off of that momentum.

“It was a pretty balanced attack for us tonight – we got contributions from a lot of different players. UBCO is really hurting with some injuries right now, and we benefitted from that a little bit, for sure. They played hard, but just missing that many kids is pretty tough.”

Playing in front of an enthusiastic partisan crowd at the EFAC, the Cascades built a 17-13 lead at the end of the first quarter, then pushed it to double digits in the second as Claggett put on a clinic in the post. The Mission, B.C. product scored eight straight UFV points in one stretch to help her team to a 33-22 lead at the break.

The Cascades opened the third on a 14-2 run, and they were off to the races from there. Point guard Cabuco was a dynamic presence during the game’s decisive stretch, and finished 3-for-5 from beyond the arc.

“I thought Nikki played her role perfectly tonight,” Al Tuchscherer said. “She came off the bench and really gave us a spark at both ends of the floor – hit some shots that really broke the game open. That was fun to watch, for sure.”

UBCO head coach Bobby Mitchell noted that having so many players sidelined made it “a little bit difficult.”

“But we’ve got to be able to find a way to compete and be better,” he said.

“In the first two-three minutes of the third quarter, we missed three easy shots we need to make. We didn’t make those baskets, and then Fraser Valley came down and hit a three, got a putback. When you’re down 11 and they score those five points, all of a sudden it’s 16, and it just took the wind out of our sails and we couldn’t get it back.”

Men’s Basketball: Cascades’ Bainses bury Heat under barrage of triples

A long-distance barrage from Parm Bains and Sukhjot Bains ignited an 89-76 victory for the University of the Fraser Valley men’s basketball team over the UBC Okanagan Heat in their home opener on Friday evening.

The Heat appeared to be in control midway through the third quarter, having built a 50-40 lead. But the Cascades’ Bains duo – no relation, though they’re former classmates at Tamanawis Secondary in Surrey, B.C. – began raining fire from beyond the arc, sparking a huge UFV surge that saw them lead by as many as 19 points in the fourth quarter en route to a comfortable double-digit win.

Parm went 7-for-12 from three-point range on his way to a game-high 31 points, and Sukhjot shot 5-for-7 from distance as part of a huge double-double (23 points, 15 rebounds) for the Cascades (1-2).

Spencer Thomas, with 16 points, paced the Heat (1-4), who renew hostilities with the Cascades on Saturday (7 p.m., EFAC).

“We got rolling, and we just kind of stayed in that rhythm for the remainder of the game,” UFV head coach Adam Friesen said, reflecting on an incendiary 11-minute stretch bridging the third and fourth quarters which saw Parm and Sukhjot combine for nine triples.

“UBC Okanagan played really hard. They made us earn it. We shouldn’t be expecting to get many wins having to dig ourselves out of deficits this late in the second half.”

The Cascades took a 40-35 lead into halftime after Parm Bains hit a buzzer-beating triple, but it was one of just four long-distance connections by the hosts in the first half.

The Heat came out scorching to start the third, reeling off a 15-0 run capped by a Hafith Moallin trey to go up 50-40. But Sukhjot Bains singlehandedly kept his team in it – he hit three-pointers on three consecutive possessions to cut the deficit to 50-49 in the blink of an eye.

Parm would finish off the Heat, pouring in 19 points in the fourth quarter – including five triples – as the Cascades cruised.

“I think we got a little complacent,” UBCO head coach Clayton Pottinger said. “We allowed them to make some shots, and this is definitely not a team where you want to allow them to get hot.

“We did a good job, I thought, through almost three quarters getting out on three-point shots and not allowing them anything easy. Then as soon as we got a 10-point lead, we got complacent. The biggest part of the learning curve with a new group of guys together is trying to figure out how to be successful.”

For the game, UFV shot a white-hot 58.3 per cent (14-of-24) from beyond the arc. Kenan Hadzovic chipped in offensively with 11 points, and centre Matt Cooley had a game-high five assists. Rookie guard Vlad Mihaila – making his Canada West regular-season debut – scored six points.

Philip Okanlawon (12 points) and Sebago Jean-Charles (10) joined Thomas in double digits for the Heat.

Women’s Volleyball ( Jordie Arthur, Cascades communications assistant): Royals battle back to edge Cascades in five

The Douglas Royals rallied to edge the University of the Fraser Valley women’s volleyball team in five sets on Friday evening at the Envision Financial Athletic Centre.

The visitors took the match by scores of 25-27, 25-19, 17-25, 25-23, and 15-10.

The Cascades (6-5) and Royals (5-5) renew hostilities on Saturday at Douglas’s New Westminster campus to wrap up the home-and-home series (5 p.m., pacwestbc.tv).

“We put ourselves in a position to win against a really good team,” UFV head coach Janelle Rozema said afterward. “Obviously the outcome at the end of the game was not what we wanted, but I was really impressed with the way we battled out there.

“We made some key mistakes after 20 (points) in the sets previous (to the fifth) – I think we actually could have finished that game a little sooner had we not made those mistakes. It’s going to be a little bit of learning about tightening things up when the score is after 20 and making sure we get the job done.”

In the first set, the two teams both got efficient offence from their middles – Lauren Poirier racked up four kills for the Cascades, and Olivia Cesaretti did the same for the Royals. However, with the score 26-25 UFV, Porier secured a block on Cesaretti to close it out 27-25 for the hosts.

UFV held a 9-6 lead in the second, but Douglas fought back – an ace by Jacey Neid and kills by Cesaretti and Grace Warkentin gave them a 10-9 advantage, and they pulled away from there to take it 25-19.

Blocks on back-to back points by UFV’s Sedona Arabsky and Poirer staked UFV to a 7-5 lead in the third, and the Cascades extended the margin to 13-6 after an Amanda Matsui service run. They would wrap up the set 25-17 thanks to a late Lexi Edwards service run, aided by blocking from Arabsky and Chelsea Kidd, and Kristen McBride had the clinching kill.

The teams found themselves even at 21-21 in the fourth, but the Royals got a block from Emma Schill and successive kills from Jacey Neid to take it 25-23 and extend the match.

With the score 6-5 for Douglas in the fifth, Neid secured a kill and an ace to give her team an 8-5 advantage. The Royals carried that momentum, closing it out 15-10 with a Cesaretti kill.

Matsui posted a team-high 12 kills for the Cascades, while McBride, Kidd and Arabsky had eight apiece.

A trio of Royals notched double-digit kills: Cesaretti and Schill had 13 apiece, and Warkentin had 12.

Men’s Volleyball (by Jordie Arthur, Cascades communications assistant): Royals fend off Cascades in four

The University of the Fraser Valley men’s volleyball team battled hard, but fell in four sets to the Douglas Royals on Friday evening at the Envision Financial Athletic Centre.

The CCAA No. 3-ranked Royals prevailed 25-21, 19-25, 25-22, 25-22 in improving their PACWEST-leading record to 9-1 on the year, while the Cascades fell to 4-7.

The two teams close out the home-and-home set on Saturday night on Douglas’s campus in New Westminster (7 p.m. pacwestbc.tv).

“We had our chances, I really did,” UFV head coach Nathan Bennett said afterward, alluding to close calls the Cascades had in the third and fourth sets. “I thought the guys played well at times. It’s consistency. We have our chances – I basically said in one of the timeouts, ‘We have to put the gun away. We keep using it to shoot ourselves in the foot.’

“This is the cream of the crop in the league, and if we can compete with these guys, we can compete with anybody and we can beat any team in this league. But we have to play to a level, and we have to be consistent at that level.”

The Cascades got off to an inauspicious start, as the visitors leapt out to a commanding 10-1 lead bolstered by four consecutive aces by Matt Shand. The Cascades chipped away at the deficit and, led by Landon Uy who racked up five kills in the set, they cut it to 21-16. Two quick kills by Caleb Kastelein helped them pull even closer to 21-20. However, it was not enough as the Royals pulled away to take it 25-21, closing it out on yet another Shand ace.

The Cascades jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the second behind Justin Peleshytyk, who registered a kill and an ace. They extended that advantage to 18-12 in the middle part of the set, and although the Royals would close the gap to 20-18, the hosts gained full control as a three-point serving run by Peleshytyk took the score to 24-18, allowing UFV to finish it off 25-19.

The Cascades took a 6-3 lead in the third after an Andy Barrero ace, but the Royals scored six of the next eight points, capped by a Greg Moore ace, to take a 9-8 lead. The teams traded blows in the middle portion of the set, but Douglas surged ahead to snatch a 23-19 lead, and despite back-to-back kills by Peleshytyk, the Royals wrapped up the set 25-22.

Both teams struggled to gain momentum in the fourth as they traded points early on, but with the score 19-17 for the Royals, Matt Shand came alive registering back-to-back kills to make it 21-17. Kills by Uy and Kastelein helped bring UFV within one to 21-20, but that would be as close as they would get, as Douglas built a 24-22 advantage before capping off the match with a Rajan Gill ace, 25-22.

Uy paced the Cascades with 19 kills and two aces in the match, while Peleshytyk picked up nine kills of his own. Matt Shand racked up 14 kills and five aces to lead the Royals, and teammate Ben Shand chipped in 10 kills of his own.

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