It was a similar script to the previous night, as the University of the Fraser Valley women's volleyball team fell in straight sets to the Vancouver Island University Mariners on Saturday afternoon.
The CCAA No. 1-ranked Mariners (14-0), coming off
a three-set win on Friday over the Cascades, wrapped up series at the Envision Financial Athletic Centre by scores of 25-20, 25-16 and 25-22. The No. 10 Cascades fell to 8-9 in PACWEST play.
"In the first two sets, we were unclear on our responsibilities, especially for first contact . . . but also just playing tentatively," UFV head coach
Janelle Rozema said. "Once we started being more clear on what our roles were and more assertive in our contact, we didn't give them as many easy points."
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The hosts struggled to find a rhythm early in the first set, notching service errors on their first three attempts and trailing 8-3 early. VIU would stretch their lead to 19-12, and a Shelby Doman-Banks ace made the score 24-13. UFV fought back, fending off seven set points with
Kristen McBride securing a kill before going off on a six-serve run to make it 24-20. The comeback came up short, though, as VIU finished off the set with an Amanda Dobbyn kill.
The teams traded points early in the second to find themselves even at 7-7, but a five-point service run from the Mariners' Andrea Cankovic boosted the visitors to a 12-7 lead, and they pulled away from there.
Amanda Matsui had an outstanding third set – she notched back-to-back kills midway through the set to get UFV back to within 14-13, and later on, had another back-to-back batch of kills to tie it 19-19. But with the score even at 20, VIU would score five of the next seven points to close out the match 25-22.
Matsui paced the Cascades with 12 kills, while McBride knocked down 10 of her own.
Karoline Tormena posted 13 kills for the Mariners, and Danielle Groenendijk notched nine.
The Cascades volleyball teams now embark on a bye week, returning to action Jan. 24-25 to face the Camosun Chargers on the road.
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