The University of the Fraser Valley men's volleyball team fell in three sets to the Douglas Royals on Friday night at the Envision Financial Athletic Centre.

The CCAA No. 2-ranked Royals wrapped up the match with set victories of 25-20, 25-22, and 25-15 to improve to 10-2 on the season, while the Cascades saw their record fall to 5-9.

The two teams wrap up the home-and-home series on Saturday at Douglas's New Westminster campus (3 p.m., pacwestbc.tv).

"Douglas is a lot sharper that this point of the season," Cascades head coach Nathan Bennett said. "Their trip to California (over the December break) has them going into the new year firing on all cylinders. We weren't fast enough . . . and it was hard to get into game rhythm tonight.

"The positive we have after tonight is that we get another chance at them tomorrow."

The Royals started hot, building an 8-3 lead in the first set on strong service play by Matt Shand and Ben Shand who racked up two early aces apiece. The visitors went on to increase their lead to 15-7, and despite the Cascades battling back to cut the deficit to 21-17, Douglas held on for the 25-20 set win.

The Cascades came out firing in the second, gaining a 7-2 lead bolstered by Landon Uy picking up two kills while Justin Peleshytyk and Jackson Obst each registered an ace. The Royals would get rolling, however, leveling the score at 10 apiece following a three-point service run by Greg Moore. The teams traded points to 18-18, but another three-point service run by Moore would give Douglas a 21-18 advantage and they would finish it off 25-22.

The third set was all Royals – they established a 14-8 lead and would not be slowed, closing out the match with a 25-15 set victory.

Uy led the Cascades with nine kills, six digs and two aces, and Graham Walkey posted 16 set assists.

Max Haronga paced the Royals with a game-high 12 kills, while Matt Shand had 10 of his own. Matt Shand, Ben Shand and Moore all finished with three service aces in the match.