Royals remain undefeated at home

The Douglas Royals played host to the VIU Mariners this past weekend. After sitting idle the previous week, the Royals were eager to get back on track after losing a pair of matches in their last outing, Nov. 6 and 7 vs the Camosun Chargers.  Meanwhile, the visiting Mariners did play last weekend as they hosted the CBC Bearcats, winning both of their matches.

VIU had hoped to come into Douglas and dictate the tempo since the Royals had not played in two weeks as a result of their bye.  Friday night's match saw the Mariners take the 1st set 25-18.  The Royals however, where not about to lose their third match in a row and increased their intensity and adapted to the VIU attack. VIU continued to press but the Royals would not be denied on their home court, winning the next three sets to take the match 3-1.

"Heading into Douglas, it doesn't take much to get up for matches against the Royals." Commented VIU coach Abe Avender. "Douglas is a winning program and has always been since I started coaching 6 seasons ago. They are very well coached and protect their home court as good as any program in the country."

"Our guys started very strong on Friday night winning the first set in convincing fashion. From then on, the Royals found their quality and adapted to our game plan and made the necessary modifications and came back and won the next three sets. They played a strong match and cleaned up their side"

VIU had a strong evening on the court from 5th Year and Team Captain Jesse Bazergui (17 kills, 1 block, 1 ace, 10 digs) and 1st Year Braydon Brouwer (15 kills, 9 digs). The Royals also had strong contributions from Nick Lightfoot (12 kills, 2 blocks, 2 aces, 3 digs), Kristian Currie (12 kills, 2 aces, 3 digs) and Caleb Konrad (10 kills, 1 block, 1 ace, 7 digs).

Both teams return to action in a matinee match at 3 pm.