A pair of University of the Fraser Valley athletes have been recognized by their respective conferences for outstanding performances on the weekend.
Taylor Claggett of the Cascades women’s basketball team has been named the Canada West third star of the week across all sports, after spearheading a weekend sweep of the Mount Royal Cougars.
UFV’s Joel Kleingeltink is the PacWest men’s volleyball athlete of the week – he led his squad to an upset victory on Saturday over Camosun Chargers, the No. 1-ranked team in the nation.
Taylor Claggett (right) is having an outstanding rookie season with the Cascades women’s basketball team.
• Claggett continued to assert herself as a leading contender for the Canada West women’s basketball rookie of the year award with a pair of strong showing vs. Mount Royal.
The power forward from Mission, B.C. racked up a career-high 23 points on Friday in exceedingly efficient fashion (9-of-10 shooting from the field), and she added eight rebounds as the Cascades prevailed 73-58. On Saturday, Claggett notched her third double-double of the season with 15 points and 11 boards as UFV completed the sweep by a score of 64-52 to improve to 6-4 in conference play.
Claggett’s sparkling rookie campaign has her 11th in Canada West scoring (15.1 points per game), seventh in rebounding (8.5) and second in field goal percentage (61.4).
The UFV basketball teams are at home this weekend against the UNBC Timberwolves, with games tipping off Friday (women 6 p.m., men 8 p.m.) and Saturday (women 5 p.m., men 7 p.m.) at the Envision Athletic Centre. Pay-per-view webcasts of all four games can be accessed at ufv.canadawest.tv.
Joel Kleingeltink had 20-plus kills in both of his team’s weekend games vs. Camosun.
• Kleingeltink, the Cascades’ outstanding fourth-year right side, was dominant in a pair of five-set thrillers against defending national champion Camosun.
The Langley, B.C. product racked up 22 kills, three blocks and 11 digs in Friday’s opener, but the Chargers rallied from a 2-1 deficit to win in five sets.
On Saturday, the Cascades (8-6) finished the job, edging the Chargers in another epic five-setter. Kleingeltink had another colossal outing with 20 kills, three blocks and nine digs as UFV handed Camosun (13-1) its first loss of the season.
The upset win boosted the Cascades from No. 15 to No. 13 in the latest batch of CCAA national rankings released Tuesday morning. Camosun fell to No. 2.
The UFV volleyball teams are on the road this weekend to face the Vancouver Island University Mariners. Games run Friday (women 6 p.m., men 8 p.m.) and Saturday (women 1 p.m., men 3 p.m.) on VIU’s Nanaimo campus, and will be webcast at sportscanada.tv/pacwest.
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