Winnipeg – Women’s Volleyball: Cascades service struggles in first quarterfinal match
The service line proved to be the difference on Friday as the UFV Cascades fell 3-1 (25-23, 22-25, 27-25, 25-19) to the Winnipeg Wesmen in the first match of the best-of-three Canada West women’s volleyball quarter-final at the Duckworth Centre.
The Cascades held a 22-17 lead in the third set, but a six-point run in the pivotal third set by the Wesmen helped them wipe out the advantage and allow the hosts to prevail in the match.
The two teams will meet again Saturday (3 p.m. PT) with the Cascades looking to force a game three, and the Wesmen hoping to advance to the semifinal round.
On the brink of going up 2-1 in the match, UFV was unable to convert and the Wesmen got kills from Emma Parker and Ashleigh Laube to steal the set 27-25.
The Cascades’ loss is their first in five matches. Both teams ended the regular season tied, but UFV was narrowly squeezed out on the sets won/lost tiebreaker.
Gabrielle and Lauren Attieh paced the Cascades offensively, with the former posting 24 kills and 18 digs, and her sister notching 20 and 13. Libero Emily Matsui had a match-high 27 digs.
The Cascades struggled on both ends of the service line, as they were aced seven times while managing four the other way. UFV also committed 14 service errors on the night – compared to five from Winnipeg.
“I think our serve-passing just has to be better (Saturday),” UFV head coach Janelle Rozema said. “It affected us here tonight.”
“I think we’ve gotta tighten up on some of those errors that we made tonight. Tonight, was just gaining some experience, so (Saturday) we’re going to come in more experienced.”
Laube and Parker led the way for the Wesmen with 12 kills apiece. Parker added a playoff career-high 22 digs and Laube had 13, as Winnipeg once again showed the defensive resiliency that led to it leading the country in digs.
Laube and Selva Planincic each picked up a pair of aces for the tough serving Wesmen in the effort,
“You’re playing (on your) home court, you should be serving better than the other team coming in,” Wesmen head coach Phil Hudson said. “A few momentum swings that and the big difference was when we were down, we just kept clawing away.
“… Every rally is just as important as the next one, and today we came back really well and I’m just proud of how the kids hung in there.”
