Graduating athlete Stefan Halas played his final home game for the UFV Cascades on Saturday, but the occasion didn't go as planned because for the second straight night UFV fell in four sets to the Mount Royal Cougars.
The Cougars prevailed by scores of 25-18, 22-25, 25-18, and 25-19 to improve their record to 7-3, while the Cascades dropped to 2-8 on the year.
The Cougars managed to take a 12-10 lead in the first set, before extending that advantage to 17-13 and eventually finishing it off 25-18.
With the score level at 10 in the second, Jackson Brennan managed a pair of aces in a five-serve run to give his team a 15-10 lead. However, the Cascades chipped away at that advantage to even the score at 20, before a three-serve run from
Caleb Kastelein gave the hosts an advantage they would not relinquish, taking it 25-22.
MRU was not to be stopped in the final two sets, as they jumped out to a 14-7 lead in the third and an 11-3 lead in the fourth before closing out the final sets 25-18 and 25-19.
Nimo Benne led the Cascades with a game-high 22 kills, while Reece Wilson popped up a game-high 15 digs.
Chris Byam paced the Cougars with 16 kills, while Jackson Brennan notched 43 assists, and three aces in the match.
Halas, who was honoured in a pregame ceremony, made his final home appearance as he will be graduating from UFV at the end of the fall semester.
"It means everything to me," Halas explained on the support from his family friends and teammates on the day.
"Volleyball for the last five years especially, but really for the last 10 years has been such a huge component of who I am. I love the sport, and I love playing with the guys. Playing on a team you create this brotherhood that you really can't find anywhere else and playing for five years with that brotherhood has been amazing."
The Cascades close out their fall semester schedule with a trip to the University of Alberta next Friday and Saturday, while MRU will play host to the University of Manitoba next week.
"We are going to go into it with everything we have." Halas noted on the upcoming matches.
"We believe in ourselves, and we put in the work outside of the games — hustling in practice and grinding in the gym. So, I'm feeling really good about the games coming up."
