In the last PACWEST volleyball game to be held at the Envision Financial Athletic Centre, the University of the Fraser Valley men's squad fell to local rival Columbia Bible College.

Saturday's regular-season finale had no impact on where the two teams would finish in the standings – UFV (6-18) was locked into the PACWEST's No. 6 seed, while the Bearcats (2-22) had been eliminated from post-season contention – so Cascades head coach Nathan Bennett leaned heavily on his bench. While UFV's understudies had bright moments at times, the Bearcats ultimately prevailed 25-21, 25-22 and 25-17.

The Cascades advance to the PACWEST championships, hosted next week by Douglas College, and they'll face the No. 3-seeded Capilano Blues in the quarter-finals on Thursday at 3 p.m.

"Our placing was already set, and with the short turnaround for provincials – we play Thursday afternoon – we were just giving some guys some rest," Bennett explained.

"At the end of the day, it's not charity playing time (for players coming off the bench). They're part of our team, and I always expect all our players – anyone who gets a chance to play for our program – to put their best foot forward. They know our game plan, they know how to play in our system. I was hoping for a little bit more tonight. I think a bit of our mentality was, we weren't playing to win – we were playing to survive, it felt like."
 

???? | First-year outside hitter Josh Willems on his team wrapping up the regular season, next week's playoff game, and looking forward to the team's move to @CanadaWest next season! #WeClimbWeConquer pic.twitter.com/pjKvzplQLz

— UFV Cascades (@UFVCascades) February 16, 2020

In the first set, the Bearcats pulled away in the middle stages, going up 18-12 after a Noah Bouius service ace. The Cascades scored the next four points to get back into it, highlighted by three straight blocks – two from Dylan Neudorf, one from Graham Walkey – but CBC pulled away as the hosts struggled with attack errors.

CBC's Stefan Halas served for five straight points early in the second set, staking his team to a 12-5 lead. The Cascades got back to within 16-13 after consecutive kills from Neudorf and Josh Willems, but were unable to complete the comeback, and Halas bookended the set with a kill.

The Cascades stayed close for much of the third set, but the Bearcats finished strong, scoring five of the last six points to close out the match.

Willems's seven kills were a team-high for the Cascades, and Hunter Klassen and Justin Peleshytyk registered five kills each. Setter Walkey posted 19 assists over the first two sets before shifting to libero in the third.

Bouius led the Bearcats with nine kills, hitting .421, and Nathan Rempel and Jakob Boschmann had five kills apiece.

GAME NOTES: Saturday's match marked the end of an era, as it was UFV's final PACWEST volleyball home game. The Cascades volleyball teams are moving up to the Canada West conference for the 2020-21 season.