It seemed only appropriate that the winning point for the University of the Fraser Valley men’s volleyball team on Saturday evening came off a Josh Togeretz attack.
After outside hitter Kurtis Stromdahl departed the game with an ankle injury midway through the second set vs. the Capilano Blues, Togeretz came off the bench and excelled, sparking the Cascades to a four-set triumph at the Envision Athletic Centre.
– Darren McDonald photo
The victory (25-18, 30-32, 25-23, 26-24) boosted the Cascades’ record to 5-3 in PacWest regular season play, while the Blues fell to 0-6.
“We battled through some adversity,” UFV head coach Kyle Donen said. “Josh came in and did everything we could have asked for when Kurtis went down, and I’m not surprised. Josh has been battling from the beginning of the year.
“He really gave us some extra energy when we were deflated a little bit from having one of our guys go down. It was impressive to see what he did tonight.”
Coming off a relatively efficient three-set win over the Blues on Friday, the Cascades were seeking a similar result in the rematch and got off to a great start in the first set.
The second wasn’t so smooth, as Stromdahl – whose 2.62 kills per set were tops on the Cascades coming into the weekend – appeared to land on a Capilano opponent’s ankle. The Blues ended up prevailing in emotional fashion, 32-30.
But UFV came through to win each of the next two sets by two points and keep Capilano winless on the season.
Togeretz was instrumental in that effort – he racked up nine kills in just over two sets of action. Adam Chaplin’s 16 kills were a team-high, Joel Kleingeltink had eight kills, four blocks and two aces, and Robert Koenig notched seven kills and six blocks.
“We had a few little lapses in the first set, and it was a tighter game than last night,” Togeretz noted. “Our passing prevailed, I think, and our general team bonding was great. We worked together as a team very well.”
The Cascades volleyball teams are back in action at home next weekend, hosting the Douglas Royals on Friday and Saturday (women 6 p.m., men 8 p.m. both nights). The Royals men are currently undefeated and ranked No. 4 in the nation.
“We know it’s going to be a battle, but so far we’ve really played well at home and we hope to continue that trend this weekend,” Donen said.
Ryan Thain also broke and dislocated his finger in the second set and played through it to win the game. Just saying