The University of the Fraser Valley women's volleyball team continued its recent momentum, cruising past crosstown rival Columbia Bible College in three straight sets on Friday evening at the Envision Financial Athletic Centre.
The CCAA No. 9-ranked Cascades prevailed by scores of 25-18, 25-22 and 25-7, winning for the fifth time in six games and boosting their record to 7-4 in PACWEST play. The Bearcats fell to 0-11.
The two teams clash again on Saturday at CBC (5 p.m., pacwestbc.tv) to wrap up the home-and-home set.
"Our serve was our flagship again, for sure," UFV head coach
Mike Gilray said, noting that the Cascades put 90 per cent of their serves inbounds with more aces (10) than errors (eight). "When we're serving like that, it's hard to score, and we have the defence and blocking to surround it.
"They (the Bearcats) are a scrappy team – it's hard to put the ball to the ground. They run a pretty fast in-system ball that's hard to get on. I thought our block did a good job of keying on the right people and getting those slowdowns to allow our transition offence to work. Our transition is easily one of our best skills – I think that's where we separate."
The Cascades got off to a solid start, building a 13-5 lead in the first set behind a five-point service run from
Lexi Edwards, and kept the Bearcats at bay from there.
The second set was the most hotly contested of the night, with CBC carving out an early 9-6 lead before some strong serving from
Kara Williams got the hosts back into it. UFV would surge ahead by six points, 23-17, and while the Bearcats would battle back to get it to within 24-22, the Cascades were able to hang on.
Kim Bauder took over in the fifth set, unleashing 13 straight serves – highlighted by a trio of aces – to stake her team to an insurmountable 21-6 lead.
Bauder would finish the night with 11 kills and 10 digs, and
Amanda Matsui chipped in with 10 kills. Cascades setter Williams was voted player of the game by her teammates, racking up 26 assists.
Megan Polant paced the Bearcats with six kills.
