The University of the Fraser Valley women's volleyball team fell in a three-set contest to the Douglas Royals on Thursday evening at the Envision Financial Athletic Centre.

The CCAA No. 3-ranked Royals earned set wins of 25-19, 25-20, and 25-16 to improve to 15-6, while the No. 10-ranked Cascades fell to 12-9. 

"I thought we game planned well, and knew what we were going to do, we just didn't take care of our side," explained UFV head coach Mike Gilray. 

"We had spots where we played well and we were in the match, but we can't be that inconsistent and expect to compete with the No. 3-ranked team in the country."

The first two sets were tight early, but the visitors would benefit from timely runs in the middle portions on their way to 25-19 and 25-20 wins. 

UFV built a 7-3 lead in the third, but Douglas College came storming back with a 6-1 run to grab a 9-8 lead before pulling away to take it 25-16. 

The middles led the Cascades offensively – Hanna Hieltjes had five kills, while Alysha Cooper had four. Rookie outside hitters Kate Widman and Kristen McBride chipped in with three kills apiece, and libero Cassidy King registered 14 digs. 

The Royals excelled from the service line, as Avneet Shokar racked up five of her team's 12 aces. Vania Oliveira had a team-high nine kills, while Emma Schill had six. 

"They're a very good serving team, and strong offensively," Gilray noted. "We have to play our best game to beat them, and we just were not close to that tonight."

The Cascades volleyball teams finish the weekend series with the Royals on Friday night in New Westminster (women 6 p.m., men 8 p.m., pacwestbc.tv). 

- by Jordie Arthur, Cascades communications assistant