Amanda Matsui made a triumphant return to the lineup, sparking the University of the Fraser Valley women's volleyball team to a thrilling five-set victory over the Thompson Rivers WolfPack in Kamloops on Friday.
Matsui, the Cascades' dynamic fourth-year outside hitter, suffered an injury in the second set of the UFV's Canada West conference opener back on Nov. 5, and had been sidelined since.Â
Her presence on the floor Friday was welcome – the Port Coquitlam product racked up a game-high 21 kills, hitting .292 as the Cascades prevailed in a back-and-forth affair (15-25, 25-22, 25-19, 17-25, 15-11) to improve to 2-5 on the season.
The WolfPack (0-7) were missing several key players as well as head coach Chad Grimm due to COVID-19 related protocols, but they turned in a spirited performance behind a 19-kill outing from rookie Brooklyn Olfert.Â
The Cascades and WolfPack conclude the weekend series on Saturday (3:45 p.m., CanadaWest.tv presented by Co-op).
"We're just grateful to have her back," Cascades head coach
Janelle Rozema said of Matsui. "It means a lot to us, but it's more about what it means to her – just acknowledging that this could be her last year playing with the Cascades, and we're just happy to see her back on the court again. She's a contributor at the net for us, and brings a very confident presence."
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TRU came out swinging, opening on 8-0 run keyed by some difficult serves courtesy of Anastasiia Muzyka, before Matsui got the Cascades on the board with a kill from the right side. The deficit proved too steep, though – Olfert racked up nine kills in the set as TRU jumped out to the early lead.
The Cascades responded by taking the next two sets in a row. The visitors took a four-point lead into the technical timeout of the second set thanks to a
Grace Warkentin kill, and while the WolfPack cut the lead to two on a couple of occasions, Matsui came up big late in the set to lead UFV to the 25-22 victory.
The third set was all Cascades after the technical timeout – UFV won 10 of the final 14 points in the set with rookie middle
Zoe Arca grabbing a pair of crucial kills in the 25-19 win.
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The WolfPack responded in the fourth, leading wire-to-wire. Faith Christensen and Sasha Haldane contributed timely kills, and a Muzyka ace sealed it 25-17.
The Cascades showed great composure down the stretch – they hit .278 per cent in the fifth compared to the WolfPack's .000 and made two fewer service errors to earn the 15-11 victory.
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Sadie Wilson and
Kristen McBride had five kills apiece for the Cascades, and McBride added a team-best 15 digs. Rookie setter
Cailin Bitter also had a strong performance with 35 assists.
Siobhan Toal racked up 10 kills and 17 digs for the WolfPack, while Muzyka posted 34 assists.
Afterward, Rozema pointed out that her squad could have been tidier in a number of areas – notably at the service line, where they had 23 errors. The WolfPack struggled in that department, too, with 22 service errors of their own.
"That's really high for us, and our serve-receive wasn't as strong as it usually is," Rozema said. "We came out with a win, but it could have been a more solid win.Â
"As a coach, I was frustrated because the things we're normally good at, we weren't good at tonight. But we're trying to give ourselves some grace – it's been seven weeks since the last time we played. It's been a long time since we've navigated the pressure of a league game.
"As a team, we're just grateful to be playing games. We're realizing you can't take that for granted."
- with files from Cameron Doherty, TRU Athletics
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