PACWEST Spike Night: Chargers @ Avalanche

Friday night the COTR Avalanche will open the new PACWEST season at home when they face the three-time defending champion Camosun Chargers (1-1).

Last weekend the Chargers hosted the VIU Mariners winning the first match 3-1, but then dropped the next match also by a 3-1 final. Without graduate Savana Walkingbear in the line-up the Chargers were in search of some instant offence and found it in Jerome Cross. He compiled 21 kills over the course of the weekend, followed by Spencer Janzen’s 18 kills and the reigning Rookie of the Year Matthew Bowers who totaled 16.

Chargers veteran head coach Charles Parkinson says, "We are really looking forward to our matches this weekend because the home crowd in Cranbrook is always loud, proud and involved and it injects energy into the athletes on both sides of the net. We don't know much about COTR this season because they've had such an enormous amount of turn-over, but they are coached by a veteran of the Canadian University system so you can bet that Cisco will have them ready to play. Given that, our focus will be on our side on Friday and Saturday, and we are hoping to do two things. The first is to execute the small things well and control what we can control - free ball passing, tip coverage, defensive positioning and so on. The second is to continue to forge our new identity because we, too, have had significant change over last year and our guys are just starting to get used to playing with each other.”

The Avalanche will see their first PACWEST action this season after having a bye on the opening weekend. They will look different compared to last year and it starts at the top. New head coach Cisco Farrero joins the Avs after his head coaching stint at Memorial University in Newfoundland. He will no doubt rely on third year athlete Julio Lins and Zach James who’s in his fourth year.

"I'm excited for the opportunity to start our season against Camosun in front of our home fans,” says Farrero. “Our team has been working hard and we want to see where we stack up against the defending conference champs. Camosun is big and athletic and physical and our success this weekend will be dependent on winning the first contact: we need to serve tough and we need to pass well. Game day is special and I expect our team to channel that excitement and kick off our season by playing well."

Friday night these two schools will open up the weekend at 8:00pm before their 3:00pm start on Saturday.