The University of the Fraser Valley women's volleyball team wouldn't be denied in their regular-season finale, battling their way to a four-set triumph over the UBC Okanagan Heat.
The Cascades, coming offÂ
a heartbreaking five-set loss on Sunday to UBCO, dropped the first set of Monday's rematch at the UFV Athletic Centre, and saw late leads in the third and fourth nearly slip away. But they came through in the clutch, prevailing 17-25, 25-14, 30-28, 25-23.Â
The result boosted the Cascades' record in Canada West play to 6-10, good for fourth in the West Division; UBC Okanagan, meanwhile, slipped into a second-place tie with UBC at 8-6 with two games left on their schedule.
"We were so determined for the win," UFV head coach
Janelle Rozema enthused afterward. "We talked about getting the win in four, because last night we had a chance to win it in four and we let it escape to a fifth set. So our goal was winning it in four, and in that fourth set, there was nothing that was going to take us out."
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The Heat came out firing in the first set led by Hellen Lacava, who racked up five kills in the frame and added two aces during an early four-point service run that allowed the visitors to pull away en route to a decisive 25-17 win.
The Cascades flipped the script in the second –
Alicja Hardy-Francis had a monster eight-point service run, capped by a pair of
Mo Likness kills and a Hardy-Francis ace, as UFV built an 11-2 lead. UFV cruised from there, with a pair of
Amanda Matsui kills closing it out 25-14.
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The third set was more closely contested, but it was the Cascades gaining some separation late, up 24-21 after a Matsui kill. The Heat, though, staved off three set points, with key kills from Amaya Perry and Lacava, and they surged ahead and twice earned set points of their own. UFV survived via clutch kills from Matsui,
Sadie Wilson and McBride, and they eventually secured an epic 30-28 win following back-to-back Heat errors.Â
The Cascades took control in the fourth, going up 17-10 as
Cailin Bitter reeled off a four-point service run, with Hardy-Francis picking up consecutive kills during that stretch. The Heat, though, took advantage of a series of UFV errors to claw their way back into it, drawing to within 21-20 after a Kendall Stephan kill. The UFV squad came up big at the net, though, as back-to-back blocks put them up 24-21. The Heat once again proved resilient, surviving a pair of match points via two Stephan kills, but an attack error by Stephan ended the match, 25-23.
Amanda Matsui racked up huge numbers in the win, with a game-high 18 kills and 21 digs. McBride (10 kills, 11 digs) also notched a double-double, Wilson added eight kills, and Likness had seven kills along with four points on blocks. Bitter posted 32 set assists, and libero
Emily Matsui led all players with 22 digs.
Lacava (11 kills) and Amaya Perry (10 kills) were the most prolific Heat attackers, and Lacava finished with four service aces.
"We're really fortunate – the last run of teams we got to play are really good, and it forced us to keep our level high," Rozema said, reflecting on how her team is trending heading into the playoffs. "We've been working on our '
excellence endurance', which I've noted before. This (UBCO) team, as well, pushed us to have the mentality of, 'OK, we're not going to give you any points. You have to earn your points.' That's the name of the game in playoffs. In the playoffs, you have to earn your points. To the credit of our opponents we got to play at the tail end of our season, it's going to really prepare us."
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