PACWEST Spike Night: Avalanche @ Blues
The women's side opens play in Week 3 of the #PACWESTBC volleyball season
Thursday night the COTR Avalanche hit the road to face the Capilano Blues in PACWEST Spike Night. This is the first meeting since the Blues swept the Avalanche to win PACWEST bronze last season.
The Avalanche are undefeated after sweeping the Camosun Chargers last week in their home opener. This weekend they hit the road for the first time making the long nine hour and 40 minute bus ride west to North Vancouver.
Offensively the Avs are led by Alexa Koshman early on. In the nine sets she played last weekend she collected 31 kills, 22 digs and nine aces and was named the PACWEST Athlete of the Week. She was able to command the offence opening up opportunities for other athletes like Megan Beckett who tallied 16 kills and Sarah Calkin and her 25 total offensive points.
Last season the Blues swept the Avalanche so payback is on the mind of their returning players. Head coach John Swanson says he’ll again look to his veterans to lead, “Capilano will be a very well coached team. Cal runs an excellent program and they will be ready to play. They have played one more match than us and with so many teams developing new programs this season in the PACWEST every opportunity you have to gain some type of game experience is valuable. Our younger group will continue to have to rely on our veteran players who have played on the road in the past and will share with them what the demands will be.”
The Blues come back home this weekend after spending last weekend in Abbotsford at UFV where they earned a split. They dropped the first match on Friday night, but rebounded to take the second match on Saturday in five exciting sets.
Offensively the Blues have been driven by Tyneille Neufeld who has compiled 43 kills and 51 total points thus far. Isabela Lima has been a contributor as well collecting 25 kills and Emma Schill has 20.
This will be the second home stand for the Blues. In Week 1 they hosted and split with the Douglas Royals, falling in five sets before rebounding and sweeping the second match 3-0.
This match is the first of four in four days for the Avalanche who face the Blues on Thursday and Friday, then visit the Royals over the weekend. The Blues on the other hand play the Avs then have the rest of the weekend off.
Thursday night the Avalanche and Blues “spike it” at 6:00pm. WATCH HERE.