The University of the Fraser Valley women's volleyball team started slowly but found their form in the middle stages, rallying to defeat the Capilano Blues in four sets on Friday at the Envision Financial Athletic Centre.
The Blues took the first set 25-18 and opened a 17-13 lead in the second, but the CCAA No. 6-ranked Cascades roared back to win it in epic fashion, 30-28, and then closed out the match 25-22 and 25-21.
UFV boosted its record to 6-3, good for second in the PACWEST, while dropping the Blues to 1-6. The two teams wrap up the home-and-home set on Saturday at Capilano (5 p.m., pacwestbc.tv).
"They (the Blues) were out-serving us, out-passing us, they were finishing plays," Cascades head coach
Janelle Rozema said afterward, reflecting on the first set and a half. "It wasn't one thing or two things – our whole game had to get better.
"I'm impressed we were able to rise to that challenge. Usually as a coach if you give them one or two things to work on, they can improve. But for me to be like, 'Look, we're getting beat in every category, what are you going to do about it?' And for them to make a change, it was good for us."
The visitors controlled the opening set. With the score 13-13, Capilano's Olivia Humeston notched two aces during a five-point service run to grab an 18-13 advantage before finishing it off 25-18.
Capilano held a 17-13 lead in the second, but four kills by
Kristen McBride helped the Cascades cut the deficit to 22-21. The Blues re-established their advantage 24-21 after an ace from Kelsey Towers, but the Cascades stormed back to take a 25-24 lead. The Blues would fend off four UFV set points, but the Cascades eventually closed it out with a kill and a block in consecutive points by
Sedona Arabsky, 30-28.
The Cascades built a 5-1 lead early in the third. Capilano's Eva Nagata secured back-to-back kills cutting the UFV cushion to 9-7, but UFV pulled ahead 20-14. Despite a late charge by the Blues, the Cascades took it 25-22.
Both teams traded blows in the fourth. With the score even at 20, the Cascades scored five of the final six points, capped by a McBride kill, to seal the match 25-21.
One of the turning points in the match came with the Cascades struggling in the second set. Rozema turned a timeout over to her players, and leaders like Arabsky and
Cassidy King spoke up to help get the team back on track.
"I hear them in practice and when they debrief, I hear them saying such great things, and then I see it being so powerful and contagious amongst the group," Rozema explained. "I just thought it would be more effective for them to hear from each other instead of hearing the same message from me. The only word I said at the end of it, just to sum it all up, was 'We have to compete.' But everything before that kind of woke them up and got them reconnected with each other."
McBride had a huge game, racking up a game-high 17 kills,
Amanda Matsui had 13 kills, and
Chelsea Kidd and Arabsky had seven apiece. McBride and Kidd tied for team-high honours with 17 kills each.
Nagata, with 11 kills, led the Blues' attack.
Â
