Cascades’ upset bid falls short vs top-ranked Camosun
The University of the Fraser Valley men’s volleyball team had the top-ranked team in the nation on the ropes, only to watch the Camosun Chargers claw their way back for a five-set victory on Saturday afternoon.
Playing on the road in Victoria, the Cascades won the first two sets 25-19 and 28-26, with Adam Chaplin and Dayton Pagliericci delivering key aces in the late stages of the second to secure the win.
In the third, UFV fell behind 17-11, but battled back to tie it 22-22. The CCAA No. 1-ranked Chargers finished strong, though, to prevail 25-23.
The Cascades appeared to be in full control in the fourth, up 8-1 early behind some tough serving from Chaplin. But Camosun came all the way back to win 27-25.
The fifth set was a similar story – UFV led 5-2 and 10-7, only to watch the Chargers storm back to seal the victory 15-13.
Camosun preserved its cumulative two season undefeated record at 20-0 or 8-0 for the 2015-16 season, while the CCAA No. 13-ranked Cascades fell to 4-4. All of UFV’s defeats this season have come on the road against teams ranked No. 1 in the nation at the time – the Douglas Royals (Oct. 23-24), and now the Chargers. For their part, the Chargers have also played the top end teams in the league, defeating the Royals and Mariners on their incredible run.
“It’s early in the season – it’s a chance for us to learn,” Cascades head coach Kyle Donen said afterward. “Unfortunately we learned two tough lessons in two difficult losses against teams we had a chance to beat. It should give us fuel for our fire as we continue our season. We played well at the beginning of every set – the first two sets, we took it to them,” Donen analyzed. “We had our opportunities to put them away in the third, too. We didn’t put them away the way we needed to; we didn’t execute at key times. All in all, we can’t be too disappointed about the overall outcome of the weekend. We took the No. 1 team in the country to the brink.”
Among the other standouts for the Cascades were outside hitter Nick Bruce, who got off to a tremendous start to the match, and libero Isaiah Dahl, who made dig after dig in the late going to keep his team in it.
Camosun's coach Parkinson reflects on the night's events. "We thought it might be difficult for UFV to reach the same emotional plateautonight, especially with less than 24 hours rest, but were we ever wrong. They don't have the luxury of starting different players like we do but it made no difference whatsoever and once again we were manhandled by their strong serving and transition game. Chaplin (UFV) was a force to be reckoned with and was fearless in every rotation. Down 2 sets to 0, we changed our left sides and moved Jerome Cross to the right side, decisions that eventually paid off because we were able to win set 3.
"Set 4 was scary because we were down by 4 in the late stages and even faced match point against us. To the credit of our Charger athletes they kept their composure, continued to battle and stole the set in overtime. We breathed a sigh of relief, but only for a minute, because anything can happen in a 5th set in the PACWEST. Both teams played with power and determination in a really entertaining fight that saw us down by 3 at the change of sides. We fought back, however, and managed to take a 14-13 lead and on the ensuing play forced a setters dump which was dug back up and close to the net. Our 5th year leader Vitor Macedo showed why he is perhaps the best player in the league by reading the situation under duress and bashing the ball out of bounds, off the hands of the block for the comeback win.
"Overall, we were very impressed with UFV this weekend and very proud of the resilience of our athletes in winning both matches. Coming back from a 2 set deficit shows the kind of depth and character that we have, but we know we have to keep working because every team is just going to keep improving and we have to as well if we want to take a run at the Championship again."
The Cascades hit the road again next weekend, facing the College of the Rockies Avalanche in Cranbrook while the Chargers visit the Capilano Blues in North Vancouver.
- with files from Dan Kinvig, UFV Communications Coordinator