Coming off the Christmas break, University of the Fraser Valley women’s volleyball coach Dennis Bokenfohr sensed that his group was rested, recharged and renewed.
That’s precisely how they looked on Friday evening, as they beat the Douglas Royals in three straight sets on the road in New Westminster.
The Cascades improved to 8-5, good for third in the PacWest, while Douglas fell to 4-9.
“Sometimes when you get near the end of a semester, we sometimes forget these girls are full-time in school as well,” Bokenfohr said. “I think a good number of them were drained from their studies. Coming back (after the break), you see a noticeable difference.
“It was fun to watch. We definitely got better again today.”
The CCAA No. 9-ranked Cascades had finished the first semester by losing four of their last six games, but they authored an energetic performance on Friday highlighted by, in Bokenfohr’s words, “some pretty incredible team defence” spearheaded by libero Amy Davidson, and a huge service run by Nicole Blandford to erase a late deficit in the third set and spark the Cascades to a 25-23 triumph.
“Every night we try to execute a game plan, and there was definitely energy to do that, and there was execution,” Bokenfohr said. “That’s not always the case. The girls did a good job of imposing themselves with really strong defence. That’s an encouraging sign for the future.”
The Cascades and Royals meet again on Saturday in New West (6 p.m. start, live webcast at sportscanada.tv).
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