The University of the Fraser Valley women's volleyball team rose to the occasion on a historic night, topping the Thompson Rivers WolfPack in four sets in their first-ever Canada West conference game at home.
The Cascades showed some signs of nerves in the early going, but grew stronger as the match wore on, ultimately prevailing 26-24, 17-25, 26-24, 25-16 in front of an enthusiastic home crowd.
Rookie middle
Mo Likness had a breakout game, racking up 11 kills on just 15 swings for a .600 hitting percentage to pace UFV.Â
The Cascades (4-5) and WolfPack (1-10) wrap up the weekend series on Saturday at the UFV Athletic Centre (3 p.m., CanadaWest.tv presented by Co-op).Â
"It means the world, for sure," UFV head coach
Janelle Rozema said, reflecting on the opportunity to, at long last, play at home as a Canada West program.Â
"We talk a lot about how our home court is sacred, and having our logo in the centre of the court, reminding us of who we're representing, we've been missing that. And then having the whole crowd behind us, we haven't experienced that yet. And the crowd was great tonight. It was a really good atmosphere, a really good feel."
The Cascades got off to an uneven start, as a series of hitting errors saw them trailing 7-2 to open the first set. Likness gave the hosts a lift midway through the set, notching a pair of kills and an ace to draw UFV back to within 14-12, but the WolfPack, with Anastasiia Muzyka at the service line, were able to push the advantage back to 20-15. The Cascades battled back to tie it 23-23 after two straight Likness points – a resounding kill followed by an ace –  and an
Amanda Matsui kill put the hosts up 24-23. TRU staved off one set point, but
Cailin Bitter ultimately closed it out, picking the back left corner for an ace.
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The WolfPack, again, got off to a strong start in the second, surging ahead 7-4, and they maintained a lead in the neighbourhood of two points until back-to-back blocks stretched the advantage to 19-15. They would pull away to take it 25-17, with Muzyka registering eight assists and a pair of solo blocks in the set.
UFV started brightly in the third, going up 4-1 early, highlighted by a huge Likness kill and a Matsui ace. The Wolfpack erased that edge in a hurry, going point for point with the Cascades with Seray Altay doing much of the damage for the visitors. UFV took a 16-15 lead into the technical timeout, then gained a smidge of separation, up 22-20 after back-to-back blocks from Likness and
Sadie Wilson. Another Wilson block set up set point at 24-22, and after TRU battled back to tie,
Kristen McBride took over with a kill followed by an ace to close it out 26-24.
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The Cascades grabbed a quick 9-4 lead in the fourth, with
Cailin Bitter rolling at the service line and
Amanda Matsui knocking down a pair of highlight-reel kills. A Wilson service run stretched it to 13-5, and the UFV side cruised from there, taking it 25-16.
Amanda Matsui's 13 kills ended up as a game high, and her sister Emily, the Cascades' libero, had a strong game with 13 digs. Rookie setter
Cailin Bitter was outstanding at the controls of the offence, posting 36 assists, while Wilson (seven kills) and McBride (five kills) also chipped in offensively.
Altay, with 10 kills, set the tone offensively for TRU, Brooklyn Olfert added seven kills, and Muzyka finished with 20 assists.
"It's really coming out as a strong theme, that we start games nervous," Rozema said. "That's our next task – to start games out a little more confident and comfortable in our skin. I'm not overly surprised, because we're so young. What's really encouraging is, even though they start nervous, they really settle down as the game goes on, which shows a level of maturity."
As for Likness, Rozema said she knew what the rookie from Mission, B.C. was capable of.
"If a team doesn't pay attention to her, she's going to make them pay," she said. "Thompson Rivers was leaving her… which is a dangerous thing to do against a player like Mo."
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