Thursday, Feb. 21: No. 13 Cascades (14-10, 4th in PACWEST) vs. Capilano Blues (8-16, 5th in PACWEST), 1 p.m. MT / 12 p.m. PT

Friday, Feb. 22: Winner advances to face No. 1 VIU Mariners in semifinals, 6 p.m. MT / 5 p.m. PT

Saturday, Feb. 23: Medal matches

Championship website

Webcasts: pacwestbc.tv

The PACWEST volleyball championships run this week in Cranbrook, B.C., and the Cascades are slated to play the very first game of the day, Thursday at 1 p.m. local time (12 p.m. Pacific).

UFV's quarter-final opponent is the Capilano Blues, a team which they won three of four regular-season meetings against but which prevailed in the most recent edition of the rivalry, earning a three-set triumph on Feb. 2. The winner advances to face the No. 1-ranked team in the nation, the Vancouver Island University Mariners (23-1), in the semis on Friday.

"It's a team that just beat us a couple weeks ago, and we have an opportunity to play them again to move on in the playoffs," Cascades head coach Mike Gilray noted. "There's not a lot that needs to be said to get excited at this time of year. The team that takes care of their side the best is the team that's going to be successful. We're trying to make sure our focus is on Cap and not on who we may or may not be facing in the next round. If we look past Cap, we won't be going forward."

Gilray noted that the Blues run "an extremely fast offence" quarterbacked by rookie setter Kelsey Towers, with left sides Isabela Lima and Meghan Koven her primary targets.

"Their left sides get an extremely high volume, and make things hard on opposing teams," Gilray said. "We're going to have to do a better job on our side of the court than we did last time out against them, and be ready for what they're going to bring."

Players to watch: A trio of Cascades – left side Kim Bauder, right side Keira Fisher, and middle Hanna Hieltjes – are nearing the end of their time with the UFV program, and will be looking to make one last memorable playoff run this week. Bauder is a graduating fifth-year player who was honoured in a Senior Night ceremony last weekend; Fisher and Hieltjes are in their fourth and third years, respectively, and are planning to move on to other endeavors. Bauder's impact is seen across the PACWEST statistical leaderboards, and she sits among the league leaders in kills, aces, digs and total offence. Fisher, meanwhile, seized control of the Cascades' starting right side role midway through the season, and is coming off her best attacking performance of the campaign (eight kills, .583 hitting percentage last Saturday vs. CBC). Hieltjes, meanwhile, missed the Cascades' last two games vs. Cap, and the return of the standout attacker could give the UFV squad just the boost it needs in its tournament opener.