The University of the Fraser Valley men's volleyball team fell in straight sets to the Capilano University Blues in the PACWEST quarter-finals on Thursday in New Westminster.
Capilano, seeded No. 3 at the PACWEST championship tournament hosted by Douglas College, secured the victory 25-18, 25-21, 25-10 to move on to the semifinals, while No. 6 seed UFV sees its season come to an end.
"You know, we always have a dream of the Rudy scenario," reflected Cascades head coach
Nathan Bennett, "but at the end of the day they (Capilano) played a better game than we did and I commend them. They did a great job."
Capilano opened the match hot, building a 20-14 lead before finishing off the opening set 25-18.
The Blues took an early 5-1 lead in the second. They extended that advantage to 9-2 following a Simon Friesen ace. With the score at 18-10, the Cascades grabbed five of the next seven points to close the gap to 20-15. Capilano responded, pushing their lead to 24-17, but the Cascades would side-out and
Caleb Kastelein followed it up with a massive kill from the back row. An
Andy Barrero ace helped the Cascades cut the deficit to 24-21, but that was as close as they would get as Capilano secured a block to seal it 25-21.
Capilano jumped ahead 3-0 in the third, and extended their advantage to 7-1 with Enis Besirevic at the service line. The Blues did not let up, increasing the lead to 21-7. With the score 24-10, a long rally looked to go the Cascades' way multiple times, but the Blues managed to fend it off and close it out on a kill by Rafael Hilario, 25-10.
Kastelein was named UFV's player of the game, posting 10 kills and five digs.
Landon Uy added eight kills and four digs on the night.
"Story of the year, right – Caleb and Landon," Bennett said, lauding his star left sides. "I thought Caleb had an outstanding first set. He was put in some trouble in the second and third that brought his numbers down a bit, but at the end of the day he's a good athlete and I'm looking forward to seeing his growth as we go on."
Jacob Hopkins paced the Blues with 10 kills, while Hilario added nine.
Ben Friesen also chipped in seven kills.
"It's the end of an era," Bennett noted, alluding to the fact that Thursday's loss marked the program's last PACWEST game before moving up to Canada West next season. "We are now officially looking forward to joining the Canada West, and the work just gets more intense from here."
