Fraser Valley/Edmonton (Dan Kinvig) – Women’s Volleyball: Cascades drop hard-fought four-setter to Dinos
The University of the Fraser Valley women’s volleyball team saw its season come to an end in heartbreaking fashion, as they dropped a four-set decision to the Calgary Dinos on Saturday evening at the UFV Athletic Centre.
In the Pool A playoff finale for both teams, the Dinos were able to prevail 25-19, 21-25, 25-23, 25-20 in a match that featured wild momentum swings.
While it was Calgary’s first win in Pool A round-robin action after opening with losses to the Brandon Bobcats and Trinity Western Spartans, the result gives the Dinos new life. If the top-seeded Spartans are able to hold serve against the Bobcats later Saturday evening, the Dinos are in position to win a three-team tiebreaker with Brandon and UFV – all three teams would have matching 1-2 records, but Calgary would finish second in the pool based on head-to-head sets won/lost.
The Cascades, who come out on the short end of that tiebreaking scenario, see their season come to an end regardless of the Brandon-TWU outcome.
“We’re all very competitive, and I’m very competitive, so right now we’re going to feel really bad,” said UFV head coach Janelle Rozema, whose squad was coming in with momentum on the heels of Friday’s four-set win over Brandon.
“But I think it’s going to take 24 hours, and we’re going to be so proud of what we did this year. Obviously we wanted to go as far as we could, and I think we could have gone farther, for sure. I think this is short of what this group is capable of, but at the same time, I think we surpassed a lot of others’ expectations this year which is kind of cool.”
The Cascades and Dinos were level at 11-11 in the first set, but Calgary caught fire at that point. They would reel off eight of the next nine points, with Regan Ingram contributing a pair of kills and a four-point service run during that stretch. UFV’s Alicja Hardy-Francis responded with a four-point service run of her own as the hosts got back to within 19-17, but a pair of Kenzie Vaandering kills down the stretch helped the Dinos close it out 25-19. Vaandering led all players with five kills in the first, while Amanda Matsui and Mo Likness replied with four apiece for the Cascades.
The Cascades made a stirring comeback in the second to square the match. They fell behind 8-1 early, but were able to battle back as setter Kinna Fisher came off the bench to help shift the momentum. UFV drew even at 19-19 after a Likness kill, and Hardy-Francis came up big in the late stages – she had a kill and combined with Matsui on a pair of crucial blocks as the Cascades took it 25-21.
The third set started off as a near carbon copy of the second, as the Dinos opened a 6-0 lead – all of those points came on UFV errors. The Cascades battled back to within 17-15 after a trio of kills in quick succession from Kristen McBride, and they leveled matters at 22-22. Consecutive kills from Deserae Unger and Samantha Boag restored to Calgary advantage, though, and they were able to finish it 25-23.
Calgary once again built a big advantage in the fourth (17-11), only to watch the Cascades come roaring back. Kills from Likness and Cailin Bitter drew UFV back to within 20-19, but the Dinos responded with kills from Unger and Ingram, and came up big at the net with back-to-back blocks, to wrap it up 25-20.
“It’s a lesson that we have to learn – we have to control the match, and tonight we let Calgary dictate it a little bit more,” Rozema said afterward. “They followed their game plan a lot better than we did.
“They have the most creativity in their offence of any team that we’ve seen this year – it’s something we talked about, and I knew it was going to be hard. We also have creativity in our offence, but they had a better bead on our offence.”
UFV’s Matsui sisters both registered game-high stat totals – Amanda blasted 16 kills, while libero Emily had 26 digs. Likness (10 kills) and McBride (eight kills) also contributed offensively, and Cascade setters Bitter and Fisher notched 22 and 14 assists, respectively.
Vaandering had a big game for the Dinos with 12 kills and 20 digs, and Ingram contributed 10 kills and 15 digs. Michela Alongi had 25 digs, and Stella Rains posted 34 assists.
Men’s Volleyball : Cascades conclude campaign with loss to Huskies
The Saskatchewan Huskies were firing on all cylinders on Saturday afternoon at the Saville Community Sport Centre in Edmonton, topping the University of the Fraser Valley Cascades in Canada West men’s volleyball playoff action.
The Huskies were exceedingly efficient offensively, hitting .431 as a team en route to a 25-19, 25-18, 25-20 triumph.
The Cascades’ inaugural Canada West campaign come to a close after posting an 0-3 record in Pool B playoff action.
Saskatchewan (2-1), meanwhile, moves to the verge of qualifying for the second round of the CW post-season, pending the outcome of tonight’s Pool B finale between the UBC Thunderbirds (1-1) and the host Alberta Golden Bears (2-0). Anything other than a three-set UBC win would send the Huskies on to the next round.
“We had a chance to move on at the start of the day, but we had to win 3-0,” noted Cascades head coach Nathan Bennett, whose squad would have also required an Alberta win over UBC to have a shot at advancing. “Once we lost that first set, it was officially over, and you could see a bit of down emotion.
“I’m proud of the way we battled through this season. We went through a lot of adversity as a first-year team this year, and the odds were against us throughout. But the growth we’ve had was immense, and I’m looking forward to how we continue to develop this team.
“We’re looking forward to the next chapter.”
In Saturday’s opening set, back-to-back kills from Caleb Kastelein gave UFV a 14-12 lead, but the Huskies reeled off four straight points behind some tough serving from Dylan Mortensen to take a 16-14 advantage at the technical timeout. Saskatchewan pulled away from there, with Levi Olson and Luke Wandzura notching two kills apiece down the stretch.
UFV raced out to a 7-3 lead in the second, with Eduardo Ferreira notching a pair of kills and excelling from the service line. Mortensen once again swung the momentum his team’s way, though – he sided out with a kill, then served for six straight points to stake the Huskies to a 10-7 lead. Sask would build a 16-10 lead at the technical timeout, and they cruised the rest of the way, taking it 25-18.
In the third set, Sask hit a scorching .500 as a team. They led 16-14 at the technical timeout and were able to steadily expand the margin, with Nathan Seidel closing out the match with a kill.
UFV’s star outside hitter Nimo Benne was sidelined on Saturday, and in his absence, Ferreira, Kastelein and Ryan Adams notched five kills apiece. Rookie middle Tyson Ardell had four kills and hit .364, and setter Jonas Van Huizen had 19 assists.
Olson paced the Huskies with 11 kills, Mortensen registered nine, and Skyler Varga had seven. Matthew Primrose had a team-best seven digs, and Jake Rapin racked up 35 assists.
Bennett made a point of getting graduating seniors Graham Walkey and Justin Peleshytyk onto the court in the late stages.
“Those are two guys who are closing out their carer, and they deserved to get some court time,” Bennett noted. “They’re big pieces of our program, and I’m happy they could see a bit of time out there.”
