An uneven start gave way to a lights-out finish for the University of the Fraser Valley women's volleyball team, as they earned a four-set home-court win over the Capilano Blues.

At the start of Friday's match, the visitors looked thoroughly at home at the Envision Financial Athletic Centre – Capilano rolled to a 25-14 win in the first set, then erased a 17-9 deficit in the second to go up 21-19.

The Cascades, though, found their footing, clawing out a 25-23 triumph in the second capped by a huge kill down the line from Amanda Matsui. They were off to the races from there, winning the next two sets by matching 25-11 scores.

UFV (5-4) and Capilano (3-6) renew hostilities on Saturday at the EFAC (5 p.m., pacwestbc.tv).

"Early on, we were just shooting ourselves in the foot," Cascades head coach Mike Gilray analyzed. "We made 21 errors in the first set, and we know that if you don't put them under a bit of pressure, it's going to be hard. We just made a lot of errors. Everyone was trying to do a little bit extra, a little bit too much instead of just bettering the ball.

"Whereas in the third and the fourth, Kara (Williams, Cascades setter) would miss, and hitters would go fix it for her. Or passers wouldn't pass a perfect ball, and Kara would make a nice set out of it. I think our blocking and defence turned the tide. We won a few of those long rallies, which changes the feel of the game and gives you that extra energy."

The Cascades' early struggles were multifaceted, but in particular, their passing was ragged in the first set and for much of the second.

Williams got UFV off to a great start in the second, serving the hosts to a 5-0 lead, and they extended it to 17-9 before the Blues came roaring back behind the serving of Sarah Curleigh and Jaylene Lucas, amidst an avalanche of errors from the Cascades. A couple of great serves from Lexi Edwards got UFV back into it, though – they were able to square the match at a set apiece, and from there, it was all Cascades.

"We did not have a good night passing," Gilray acknowledged. "But what we did in the third and the fourth, instead of making errors, we did a good job of recycling and forcing them to win points. And then we let our transition offence go to work."

Matsui and Kim Bauder paced the offence with 13 and 11 kills apiece. Matsui added 15 digs and three aces, tying Williams for team-high honours in the latter category. Libero Karissa Marazzi finished with 20 digs, and Williams was also a double-digit digger with 11.

Edwards was the Cascades' player of the match in honour of her steady presence on an up-and-down night for the squad. Chelsea Kidd sparked the team off the bench in the third and fourth sets, racking up five kills on five swings.

Lucas's seven kills were a team-high for the Blues.