Cascades drop five-setter to Avalanche, settle for weekend split
The University of the Fraser Valley women’s volleyball team dropped a five-set decision to the College of the Rockies by the slimmest of margins on Saturday afternoon.
The Cascades had won the opener of the weekend series in Cranbrook in four sets on Friday, and in the rematch, the two teams alternated set victories – the Avalanche winning the first and third sets, UFV taking the second and fourth.
In the fifth, with the score tied 6-6, COTR reeled off four straight points to take control. The Cascades battled back, drawing to within 14-13, but Avalanche outside hitter Mackenzie Morey squeezed the ball through the UFV block for the winning point.
The Cascades now sit fifth in the PACWEST conference at 3-7, while the Avalanche are 2-6.
“The difference today was, we made more errors,” Cascades head coach Mike Gilray said. “We were trying to do too much with some balls. They’re a very good team, so you’re going to have to earn points defensively and keep balls alive.”
Second-year outside hitter Rachel Funk (17 kills, 1 ace, 17 digs) earned the Cascades player of the game honours, her effort highlighted by a pair of key kills late in the fourth set to boost her squad to a 25-23 win and extend the match. Fellow outside hitter Kelly Robertson, coming off a terrific performance on Friday, was very good again on Saturday where she contributed (14 kills, 2 blocks, 1 ace, 13 digs) .
“For the two of them to be our players of the game this weekend was good, because we’ve had our middles leading us,” Gilray noted.
COTR had excellence perfomances from Kelsey Thompson (14 kills, 1 ace, 14 digs), Ari Benwell (13 kills, 2 aces, 13 digs), Mackenzie Morey (12 kills, 1 block, 10 digs) and Kendra Hainsworth (2 kills, 1 ace, 21 digs)
COTR's head coach John Swanson was pleased with the play of Kelsey Thompson and Mackenzie Morey. Thompson was dominant in both matches this weekend. "Kelsey has been consistent in her play all season and showed continued skill in leading the team to victory on Saturday".
“Mackenzie was a dominating presence offensively against a strong blocking UFV team. Mackenzie is a second year power hitter and took a lot of the pressure off of some other players offensively. She is one of our best servers and defenders and to see her challenge herself offensively was great to see.”
The Cascades close out the 1st half of the season with a home stand vs the Capilano Blues next weekend while the Avalanche make another grueling 4 match road trip, this time to Nanaimo and Victoria to play VIU and Camosun.
- with files from Dan Kinvig, UFV Communications Coordinator