The University of the Fraser Valley men’s volleyball team knocked off the reigning PACWEST conference champs on Friday, downing the Camosun Chargers in four sets.
The Chargers took the first set 25-19, but the Cascades hit their stride midway through the second set and went on the take the match by scores of 25-22, 25-12 and 25-21.
The victory enabled UFV to improve to 4-2 and leapfrog Camosun (4-3) in the PACWEST standings. The Cascades are now tied for second in the conference with the Douglas Royals, but the CCAA No. 10-ranked Chargers have a chance to get even Saturday afternoon when the two teams clash again at the Envision Athletic Centre North Gym (3 p.m. start).
“I don’t think the first set was very good at all,” UFV bench boss Kyle Donen analyzed bluntly. “The second set could have gone either way – neither team was serving very well. It was really odd – at one point I think there were five or six missed serves back and forth. We found our stride a little bit quicker than they did in that set, and we kind of exploded in the third and carried that on into the next set.
“We looked comfortable eventually. It just took us a bit of time, and we found our groove.”
The Cascades got dynamic performances from their outside hitters – left sides Ben Friesen (16 kills) and Matt Whittall (10 kills) both reached double-digit kills, as did right side Joel Kleingeltink (11). Middle Connor Pruim and setter Adam Frederickson tied for team-high honours with three blocks apiece.
“In the end, it’s a good win – it just felt like a really weird game, the way it went up and down the whole match,” Donen added. “I know they’ll be better tomorrow overall, and I know we can be better tomorrow, too.”
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