A second-set stumble proved costly for the University of the Fraser Valley men’s volleyball team on Friday evening, as they fell in four sets to the Douglas Royals.
The host Cascades had fashioned a gritty comeback in the first set, erasing an early Douglas lead to take it 25-22. And they appeared poised to go up two sets to none, leading 23-20 in the second. But the Royals had other ideas, scoring six of the next seven points to win it 26-24. They cruised from there, claiming the next two sets 25-20 and 25-18.
Adam Frederickson rises up for a serve.
UFV (2-5) and Douglas (5-4) clash again on Saturday (7 p.m., Envision Financial Athletic Centre).
“We let it slip in that second set when we had a chance to take control,” Cascades head coach Kyle Donen said afterward, identifying the match’s turning point. “I didn’t think we came out particularly well in the first set, but we climbed back into it and worked hard to earn it.
“And then we kind of gave one to them in the second, and by doing that, we gave back all our momentum and they pretty much took control from there. We didn’t really have an answer.”
Nick Bruce spearheaded the Cascades’ offence with 18 kills, and fellow left side Ben Friesen (10 kills) and middle Dayton Pagliericci (12 kills) also had productive evenings. Adam Frederickson had 39 set assists, Josh Fefchak notched a team-high five blocks, and Friesen paced the defence with 12 digs.
Donen is seeking more consistency from his squad as they aim for a weekend split on Saturday.
“We need to recognize we did some things that were good today, I just didn’t think we did them on a consistent basis,” he said. “If we can sustain the pressure we’re capable of for an entire set, that’s going to translate to a much better result for us. We had moments of sets that were good, and we had moments where we just giving up points left, right and centre. I think if we’re more consistent tomorrow, we’ll be in a much better spot.”
Comments are closed.