The University of the Fraser Valley women's volleyball team closed out its PACWEST era with one last memento: A conference bronze medal.
Facing the Capilano Blues in the PACWEST third-place match on Saturday afternoon at Douglas College, the Cascades bounced back fromÂ
Friday's semifinal defeat to the Vancouver Island University Mariners with a dominant performance, winning by scores of 25-15, 25-15 and 25-23.
It marked the program's final PACWEST game – after 18 seasons as part of B.C.'s collegiate league (1983-85, and 2004-2020), the UFV volleyball teams are moving up to Canada West/U SPORTS for the 2020-21 campaign.
"Being able to win a bronze medal match, and really decisively, I think just shows we are on an upward climb and it sets us up for moving into Canada West," Cascades head coach
Janelle Rozema enthused afterward.Â
"Today we were really physically strong – we were serving tougher, hitting higher, hitting harder, and digging more balls. I think it took them (Capilano) a bit by surprise and it took them a bit to adjust to that. By the third set they were starting to pick up on the new UFV volleyball that was showing itself, but by that point I think we had created so much momentum that it was just hard to stop us.
"I'm glad we finished it in that third set. Capilano is a really good team, and we had to play our best volleyball in order to get the victory we did today."
The teams went back-and-forth in the opening set, eventually finding themselves even at 13-13. However, it was the Cascades who leapt ahead 17-13 on the back of an
Amanda Matsui ace, and a kill by
Alysha Cooper. After a pair of side-outs Cooper went to work again, notching back-to-back service aces to help increase the UFV advantage to 21-14, and they closed it out 25-15 on a
Kristen McBride kill.Â
With the score level at 3-3 in the second, the Cascades scored four straight points – once again featuring back-to-back aces from Cooper – to take a 7-3 lead. UFV extended the cushion to 18-7 after reeling off eight of 10 points in the middle stages, and
Chelsea Kidd knocked down her third ace of the set late to help finish it off 25-15.Â
The Cascades built an 8-5 lead in the third, but the Blues fought back, drawing even at 11-11. From there, two straight aces by Kelsey Towers boosted Capilano to a 13-11 lead. UFV would regain the momentum in the middle of the set with McBride securing a kill and an ace in quick succession to take an 18-17 lead, only for the Blues to surge back in front 23-20. But the Cascades stormed back, leveling it at 23 to set up Matsui to strike back-to-back aces and end it 25-23.Â
UFV shone from the service line, knocking down a resounding 14 aces over the three sets.Â
"They're showing some courage and not overthinking," Rozema said of her team's serving performance. "They're just going to the service line and being smart but also aggressive – that takes a lot of courage and bravery to do."
Middle
Sedona Arabsky –Â
the PACWEST rookie of the year – put in a dazzling performance for the Cascades, earning player of the game honours with eight kills on 14 swings. Cooper and Kidd were deadly from the service line with a game-high four aces each, while Matsui added three aces of her own to go with a team-high 11 kills.Â
Jaylene Lucas paced the Blues with eight kills on the night, and Meghan Koven and Eva Nagata both had six.Â
The victory marked the fourth time UFV has claimed the PACWEST bronze medal. Most recently, they
won bronze in 2018 as tournament hosts.
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