The UFV Cascades men’s volleyball team (7-13) started the weekend with their collective backs against the wall, last in the PACWEST and two wins out of playoff contention. The Cascades had two choices, rise to the occasion or back down and give up – and the Cascades weren’t ready to give up. This weekend, UFV crushed the Capilano University Blues (10-10) twice in two days, winning 3-1 on Friday (27-29, 25-22, 25-19, 25-21), and 3-0 on Saturday (25-21, 25-23, 25-21).
By all accounts the Cascades were playing some of the best volleyball of the year. UFV, in the first three sets of Friday’s game, had 16, 14, and 18 digs respectively, as well as at least 50 percent kill efficiency in every set. “All around the best performance of the season,” said Cascades coach Greg Russell. “Defense was the difference. It’s been something we’ve been working on and it paid off.”
“It was another great night of defense as we had 59 digs as a team,” said Russell after Saturday’s game. “The offense was firing on all cylinders as well; our kill efficiency was over 40 percent in every set.”
Women’s volleyball
UFV women’s volleyball (17-3) is now officially second in the PACWEST behind VIU (18-2) after splitting the weekend with the Capilano University Blues (11-9). The Cascades won narrowly on Friday in five sets (22-25, 25-18, 26-24, 20-25, 15-10), before dropping a tight decision on Saturday 2-3 (24-26, 26-28, 25-23, 25-23, 11-15).
“A fun game tonight with a lot of highs and lows,” said Cascades head coach Dennis Bokenfohr of Friday’s contest. “It was a game where we gave up big leads and also fought back against big deficits. It was the deepest we’ve gone into our bench with great contributions throughout. There were some really long rallies off of impressive defense on both sides of the net.”
On Saturday the Cascades fell behind early and eventually paid the price of living on the edge of defeat.
Next weekend Cascades volleyball will take on the Camosun College Chargers, once again at home at the EAC.
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