Despite Ben Friesen’s 10 kills, the Cascades fell to the CBC Bearcats at home on Friday. (UFV Athletics file photo)
The Columbia Bible College Bearcats turned the tables on the University of the Fraser Valley men’s volleyball team on Friday, prevailing in three sets at the Envision Financial Athletic Centre.
The Cascades had defeated the Bearcats in three straight on Thursday night at CBC, but when the scene shifted to UFV’s campus for the rematch, the visitors were sharper. The Cascades kept the scores close in the first two sets, but the Bearcats were able to grind out a pair of 26-24 wins before polishing off the match 25-18 in the third.
The crosstown rivals both emerge from the first weekend of PACWEST play with matching 1-1 records.
“For whatever reason, we played very nervously,” Cascades head coach Kyle Donen analyzed. “We had some major struggles.
“It seemed like we had the mentality like, ‘We’re going to win at home,’ but you’ve got to earn every win that you get. I thought we were very careless in the way we played the game, and we appeared very surprised that a team that we’d beaten in three straight the night before was able to bounce back and do the same to us.”
The Cascades had some bright moments offensively at the start of the match, but struggled with their passing and with forming a solid block.
Left side Ben Friesen, a PACWEST all-star last season, paced the UFV squad with 10 kills, and Donen was pleased with how sophomore right side Graeme Hughes sparked the team defensively off the bench.
The Cascades volleyball teams take on the Capilano Blues next Friday (women 6 p.m., men 8 p.m.) and Saturday (women 5 p.m., men 7 p.m.) at the Envision Financial Athletic Centre.
– by Raelyn O’Hara, UFV Athletics communications assistant
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