The University of the Fraser Valley men's volleyball team pushed once again for its initial Canada West victory, but a resilient performance from the Thompson Rivers WolfPack yielded a four-set win for the visitors on Sunday afternoon at the UFV Athletic Centre.
The Cascades held leads in each of the sets, but the WolfPack came through in the clutch, prevailing 25-23, 25-23, 23-25, 25-21 to sweep the three-game weekend series in Abbotsford.
UFV (0-9) and TRU (4-7) might be sick of each other at this point, after three games in three days, but they lock horns for a fourth time inside of a week this coming Wednesday in Kamloops (5 p.m., CanadaWest.tv presented by Co-op).
"We started off pretty well, I thought – we had big leads in almost every set," UFV bench boss
Nathan Bennett said afterward.Â
"I think we have a great team, I really do. I believe in these guys. We have the right people here. We just need to find a way to make the right decisions when it matters."
Bennett adjusted his lineup in order to get his starters some rest, inserting outside hitters
Caleb Kastelein and
Bailey Burdick, setter
Graham Walkey, and middle
Stefan Halas. They brought great energy early, as the Cascades built a 10-5 lead in the first set with
Tyson Ardell finding success in the middle. TRU closed to within 16-15 at the technical timeout, though, surged ahead 23-21, and closed it out 25-23 after a Matthew Hamilton block.
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The Cascades went up 11-7 in the second, with Ferreira and Burdick picking up key kills, but the WolfPack quickly closed to within 11-10. Later on, the visitors reeled off five straight points with Thundersky Walkingbear at the service line to go up 22-18, and they wrapped it up 25-23 on a Samuel Elgert kill.Â
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The WolfPack raced out to a 16-11 lead in the third and appeared poised to close out the match, but the Cascades rallied to equalize 22-22 with Ferreira supplying some timely kills. With the score 23-23, TRU was assessed a red card which gave UFV a 24-23 edge, and
Jonas Van Huizen and
Noah Bouius combined to block Elgert for the winning point.
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The Cascades looked to be in good shape to extend the match, cruising to a 6-2 lead in the fourth behind a pair of
Caleb Kastelein kills, and they would maintain that margin, leading 19-14 after a
Nimo Benne kill. But the WolfPack would score nine of the next 10 points, with Rylan Ilbbetson and Mason Sodaro making service runs. A Benne kill would give the Cascades some life, but a Hamilton kill and a UFV hitting error ended it 25-21.
Kastelein had a big game for the Cascades – his 14 kills were a game-high, and he added three blocks. Ferreira had 11 kills and 10 digs, Benne come off the bench for seven kills on 12 swings, and Burdick added six kills. Walkey finished with 22 assists.Â
Elgert and Anton Napolitano tied for team-high honours with nine kills apiece for the WolfPack, Hamilton had eight of his own, and Napolitano and Kyle Taylor had 11 digs each.
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