Fraser Valley/Kelowna (Dan Kinvig) – Men’s Volleyball: WolfPack claw their way back, edge Cascades in five
The University of the Fraser Valley men’s volleyball team came within a whisker of its first-ever Canada West victory, only to be denied in heartbreaking fashion by the Thompson Rivers WolfPack.
The Cascades took the first two sets on You Can Play / Pride night, only to watch the WolfPack slowly turn the momentum, ultimately prevailing in five (17-25, 23-25, 25-23, 25-20, 15-10).
UFV (0-8) and TRU (3-7) conclude their three-game weekend series on Sunday afternoon (3 p.m., UFV Athletic Centre).
“The only thing we talked about before the match today – due to the fact we don’t have any rhythm because we haven’t played in forever – was just to improve on yesterday,” said Cascades head coach Nathan Bennett, whose team dropped a three-set decision to TRU on Friday. “I think we accomplished that. I think we improved on yesterday.
“Obviously we’ve got to improve on finishing matches off. At the end of the day, we’ve been in this situation a few times and we have yet to learn that lesson. I’m hoping that lesson gets learned soon.”
The hosts came out firing in the first set – UFV’s Nimo Benne had it going, racking up six kills on nine swings, and the Cascades collected five aces including two apiece from Ryan Adams and Noah Bouius and cruised to a 25-17 win.
The Cascades built a 20-16 lead in the second, but the WolfPack battled back with five straight points, with three of them coming via Anton Napolitano aces. UFV responded with four consecutive, with Jonas Van Huizen scorching from the service line. TRU survived two set points before a service error delivered a 25-23 win for UFV.
The third set was characterized by epic rallies between service errors – the two teams combined for 17 miscues from the line, but when the ball was in play, the action was hotly contested. Tied 23-23, a kill by Samuel Elgert followed by a UFV error allowed TRU to extend the match.
The WolfPack, with their defence both relentless and rock-solid, raced out to a 12-6 lead in the fourth, thanks in large part to a spate of UFV attacking errors. The Cascades would close to within 21-19, but a couple more attacking errors and a Maxim Turgeon ace gave the set to the visitors, 25-20.
In the fifth, TRU gained some separation as Sam Flowerday and Turgeon notched back-to-back kills to make it 11-8, and they were able to finish it off from there.
Benne’s 15 kills and 13 digs were both game highs, Eduardo Ferreira had eight kills, and Tyson Ardell had six kills. Van Huizen registered 36 assists and two aces.
The WolfPack didn’t have a player in double-digit kills – their balanced attack saw Flowerday with eight kills, and Napolitano, Elgert, Thundersky Walkingbear, Riley Brinnen and Michael Svab had six apiece.
Post-game, Bennett said he sensed his squad was struggling to handle “self-made pressure.”
“Every point seems to be worth more to these guys, when it’s still just one point,” he said. “Right now, we’re a good team from the neck down. From the neck up, we have some work to do.”
Women’s Volleyball: Matsui dominant as Cascades outlast WolfPack
An explosive performance from Amanda Matsui helped the University of the Fraser Valley women’s volleyball team complete a season sweep of the Thompson Rivers WolfPack on Saturday afternoon in Abbotsford.
The Cascades’ fourth-year outside hitter was unstoppable at times, racking up a game-high 26 kills in highly efficient fashion (.396 hitting percentage) as UFV outlasted the WolfPack in five sets (20-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-27, 15-4) on You Can Play / Pride night.
The victory – the Cascades’ fourth in a row vs. TRU – allowed them to reach the .500 mark at 5-5 in Canada West play. The WolfPack fall to 1-11.
“We expected Thompson Rivers to play better today, and they did play better,” said UFV head coach Janelle Rozema, whose team was coming off a four-set win over the WolfPack on Friday. “But we talked about embracing them playing better, because we’re preparing for playoffs. We want teams to play well against us and make us have to find solutions. I think Thompson Rivers did that. I obviously believe they would have done it more towards the end without the injury that they sustained, but it was still a good experience for us.”
The first set was closely contested with the Cascades and WolfPack going point-for-point for the most part, but TRU scored the last four points to take it 25-20. Seray Altay wrapped it up with consecutive kills.
In the second, the WolfPack built a 19-17 lead, but UFV rookie middle Mo Likness flipped the momentum at the service line. She reeled off three aces in quick succession, with Matsui contributing a kill and Alicja Hardy-Francis a block as the Cascades scored five straight points to go up 22-19. Matsui was dominant in the second set, hammering down nine kills.
The Cascades led 15-12 in the third, but TRU’s Anastasiia Muzyka went on a service run to lift her team to a 16-15 advantage. But with Sadie Wilson (four kills in the set) and Matsui (five) cooking, the Cascades were able to surge ahead inside of 20 points, and Matsui closed out the set 25-23 with a clutch swing down the line from the right side.
In the fourth, the WolfPack built a 15-11 lead, but the Cascades stitched together four straight points capped by a deft dump from setter Cailin Bitter to get back to even terms. TRU surged ahead once again, going up 21-17 after back-to-back blocks, but UFV would stave off three set points before TRU’s Sasha Haldane ended it 27-25 with an ace. The WolfPack did a better job defensively against Matsui in the set, limiting her to three kills on 14 swings.
The WolfPack suffered a blow early in the fifth when star setter Muzyka departed with an apparent hand injury. UFV, meanwhile, had Matsui rolling once again – she hammered down four kills as the hosts took an insurmountable 10-1 lead, and she finished with seven in the set.
“Yesterday Amanda was fighting it a little bit, and today she found her stride,” Rozema said. “That’s a tough thing for an athlete to do, especially when the only conversation on the other side of the net is about you. To find a way to perform when teams are thinking about you that much is important. Today she really let it roll.”
Sadie Wilson (nine kills), Likness (eight) and Kristen McBride (seven) helped balance out UFV’s attack, and Bitter racked up 47 assists. Matsui, Wilson and McBride tied for team-high honours with 11 digs apiece, and Likness finished with five aces.
Altay (13 kills) and Brooklyn Olfert (12) led the TRU offence, and Muzyka posted 28 assists and 16 digs.
The Cascades women’s volleyball team returns to action next week with a Friday-Saturday homecourt series vs. the UBC Thunderbirds.
Men’s Basketball: Heat rain fire from downtown to topple Cascades
The UBC Okanagan Heat lived up to their nickname from beyond the arc, raining down three-pointers on their way to a 91-79 win over the University of the Fraser Valley men’s basketball team on Saturday afternoon in Kelowna.
The Heat were white-hot from the opening tip, swishing their first six attempts from downtown en route to an early 25-6 lead. The Cascades battled all the way back and led briefly in the third quarter, with Zubair Seyed (25 points) leading the charge, but UBCO warmed up once again from distance to pull away down the stretch.
Kevin Hamlet had a big night for the hosts, racking up 27 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
The Cascades (8-5) and Heat (2-11) conclude the weekend series on Sunday (12 p.m., CanadaWest.tv presented by Co-op).
“They got into a rhythm in the first four or five minutes, and it felt like we were able to, in the second quarter, kind of weather that storm,” UFV assistant coach Cassidy Kannemeyer said afterward. “But it felt like as soon as Hamlet came in in the third, he was right back where he started, and it had a contagious effect on the rest of their roster. We’ve got to do a better job of having them shoot more contested shots and not allow them to get into the rhythm.”
Hamlet lit the fuse for the Heat – he went 3-for-3 from the land beyond in the first quarter, totalling 14 points as the Heat led by as many as 19. The Cascades eventually found their footing, fashioning a 12-4 run capped by a Seyed three-pointer to cut the deficit to 29-18 at the end of the frame.
UFV locked it down on defence in the second, keeping the Heat off the scoreboard for just shy of five minutes, and they were able to draw even at the half, 36-36, with Dylan Kinley scoring seven points in the quarter.
Vick Toor’s circus layup to open the third quarter gave UFV its first lead of the game, but the Heat caught fire once again from three-point range, hitting five in the frame, with two apiece from Hamlet and Jonathan Haughton. The hosts stretched the lead to 61-47 on a Dallas Hancox dunk.
The Cascades rallied in the fourth, scoring five points in a row to get to within 72-70 with five minutes left. But Haughton answered with – what else? – a three-pointer to kick-start a 7-0 surge, and UFV never threatened again.
UBCO finished 13-for-29 from downtown, compared to the Cascades’ 6-for-23 performance.
Seyed shot 8-for-17 from the field and added three assists, Toor scored 13, and Kyle Claggett posted 11 points and seven boards.
The Heat dominated on the boards, out-rebounding UFV 51-38, and Hamlet led the way with 27 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Guz Goerzen scored 18, and Hancox contributed 11 points for UBCO.
“I think that Hamlet’s rhythm was a big part of their success,” Kannemeyer said. “Today he was just on. He did a great job of kind of rallying their troops. Their role players stepped up – Hancox and Haughton gave them good minutes. They outplayed us on the glass, and they shot the ball better than us today. We’ve got to get back to winning the rebounding battle tomorrow.”
