Cascades fall in four to No. 1-ranked Camosun

On Friday evening, the Camosun Chargers continued their undefeated streak as they won their 19th straight match (league, provincials and nationals) dating back to Jan. 31, 2015 where it all began against Douglas College. This includes their last 7 league matches, 2 provincial matches and 3 national matches of 2014-15 season, and adds the 7 league matches do date, to start the 2015-16 campaign.   The Chargers are certainly on a role as the UFV Cascades found out Friday night.

The Cascades dropped a four-set decision to those Chargers, the No. 1-ranked team in the nation.  The CCAA No. 13-ranked Cascades got off to a solid start in the first set, only to fade late and fall 25-19. They pushed the Chargers even harder in the second set, but Camosun eked out a 27-25 win. UFV broke through with a 25-23 triumph in the third, but the hosts closed out the match 25-12 in the fourth.

“I think if we’d won the second set, it would have changed the match,” Cascades head coach Kyle Donen analyzed. “Overall, I thought we played relatively well. We had some moments where we could have been better in certain situations. We know we can be better and continue to improve on what we’re doing.”

Right side Joel Kleingeltink, a PACWEST second team all-star last season, was the Cascades’ offensive leader on Friday. Kleingeltink’s serve has only been working intermittently early in the season, but he rediscovered his mojo from the service line and boosted his team in that respect.

“He stood out in a big way, especially offensively,” Donen said.

Camosun head coach Charles Parkinson on UFV. "We expected a serious challenge from UFV because Head Coach Kyle Donen has upgraded positions they were weaker in last year with the introduction of a talented rookie class, and because they have veteran leadership from players like 5th year Adam Chaplin and 4th year Joel Kleingeltink. Full of confidence, UFV was the toughest serving team we have faced all season on Friday night and it took us almost the entire first set to adjust to the heat.

"Their offense has blazing speed but fortunately for us their risks did not always pay off and we were able to withstand the onslaught and win the first two sets. The 3rd set was a back and forth affair and UFV's defense and transition allowed them to steal the win right at the very end. It seemed like they ran out of gas a bit after that, though, because we pushed back and were able to secure set four and a 3-1 win."

The Cascades (4-3) and Chargers (7-0) lock horns again on Saturday at 3 p.m

- with files from Dan Kinvig,  UFV Communications Coordinator