For the second straight day, the Camosun Chargers knocked off the University of the Fraser Valley women’s volleyball team in five sets.
In the aftermath, though, the Cascades were upbeat, confident they’d made progress as a group while testing themselves against another nationally ranked opponent.
“As much as it doesn’t look like it, growth happened this weekend,” Cascades head coach Dennis Bokenfohr said afterward. “It was pretty fun to watch. I thought we changed tonight – we fought a lot harder late in sets.
“At times I thought we did a very good job, especially tonight, controlling the play.”
The Cascades started slowly on Saturday, dropping the first set 25-11 due to some passing struggles. But they turned things around in the second, opening an early 7-1 lead behind a six-point service run by Michelle Zygmunt en route to a 25-18 win.
The next two sets saw the teams exchange big comebacks. In the third, the Cascades were up 20-15 only to watch the Chargers roar back to win 26-24. In the fourth, with their backs to the wall trailing 24-20, UFV fended off four match points and won 26-24. Rachel Funk, who had an outstanding all-around game for the Cascades, served the last five points.
UFV was unable to carry the momentum over into the fifth set, though, as Camosun pulled away for a 15-10 victory.
Katie Peacock racked up a team-high 16 total points for the Cascades, while Zygmunt had 14. Libero Amy Davidson registered 13 digs, and Funk had 12.
Camosun, No. 7 in the CCAA national rankings, improved to 10-2 on the season, while No. 9-ranked UFV fell to 7-5. Both teams are now finished for the semester, and return to PacWest regular season action in January.
“We’re no thinking of them as defeats – we really grew as a team this weekend,” Cascades middle Emily Carroll said. “I think it’s a good stepping stone going into the second semester for us.”
Rallying to win the fourth set, Carroll said, was a “really great moment” for the UFV squad.
“It just brought us together as a team, and we learned to win a little bit in that set,” she said. “Unfortunately we didn’t take (the momentum) into the fifth, but it was a really exciting moment for us.”
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