The University of the Fraser Valley women's volleyball team opened up its 2020 campaign with a four-set victory over the Douglas Royals on Friday night at the Envision Financial Athletic Centre.

In a clash of nationally ranked teams, the No. 10 Cascades took the match by scores of 19-25, 25-23, 25-20, and 25-21, improving to 8-6 in PACWEST play while dropping the No. 13 Royals to 5-7.

The two teams wrap up the home-and-home series on Saturday at Douglas's New Westminster campus (1 p.m., pacwestbc.tv).

"It was just about normalizing on the court – being together again, first game back," UFV head coach Janelle Rozema said, reflecting on her team's first-set hiccups and subsequent response. "In the first set we were making a lot of unforced errors, and as we got more comfortable on the court, we lessened those."

The Cascades had a promising start, building a 4-1 lead in the first following consecutive kills and a block by Kristen McBride. However, the Royals rallied to take a 14-8 advantage on the back of a massive eight-point service run by Emma Schill who racked up four aces, including three on consecutive points. The visitors would sustain this lead through the rest of the set for the 25-19 victory. 

Douglas snagged a 15-9 lead in the second, aided by a four-point service run from Jane Kepler. The Cascades slowly chipped away at the advantage, before evening the score at 19 apiece. Amanda Matsui took over for the Cascades in the final portion of the set, securing three kills in quick succession before closing it out 25-23 with back-to-back aces.

UFV built on its momentum early in the third, taking a 7-2 lead with Chelsea Kidd chipping in two timely kills. With the score 15-10, a pair of kills by Jacey Neid drew the Royals back to within 15-14, but that was as close as they would come as the Cascades finished out the set 25-20.

The teams traded points in the fourth, finding themselves tied at 12, 14, and 16, but Alysha Cooper would secure three kills in four points to give UFV a 19-16 advantage. The hosts would not relinquish that lead, closing out the match 25-21 on a Sedona Arabsky kill.

McBride secured a game-high 15 kills for the Cascades, while Matsui and Cooper knocked down 11 and 10 respectively. Matsui sparked the defence with 17 digs, and Kidd added nine.
Schill and Neid paced the Royals with 11 kills apiece.

The Cascades had a solid night at the service line, notching 10 aces, including several in clutch spots. It was a welcome turn of events from Rozema's perspective, as her team had its struggles at the service line in the fall semester.

"We've grasped the importance of it in the past, and it's kind of given us some mental cramps," she said. "But I think we've had growth on the other side of that. We're really aware of how our serving game can affect the outcome."