ABBOTSFORD, B.C. – The meteoric rise of the UFV women's volleyball program reached another milestone Saturday in Abbotsford, B.C. 
 
The No. 3 seed Cascades beat the sixth-seeded MacEwan Griffins 3-1 (25-20, 26-24, 13-25 and 25-21) Saturday at the UFV Athletic Centre to sweep their Canada West quarter-final series in two matches. The Cascades won Game 1 Friday in four sets. 
 
With the result, UFV – in just its third season as a Canada West member – earned a berth to the conference semifinal round for the first time.
 
"For a majority of the match, we did a good job of finding the balance between playing a smart game and a physical game," remarked UFV head coach Janelle Rozema. "The Canada West is a really physical conference. Teams have size, teams have power. We started slipping in that third set, making too many unforced errors, but MacEwan is a good team. This weekend, we stayed in the moment. We went point for point, and I think we felt confident. And there was a strong belief among the group that we would take care of the outcome."
 
MacEwan concludes a season of incredible growth as it improved its conference record by eight wins to 12-12 and qualified for the Canada West playoffs for the first time since the 2019-20 campaign. The Griffins were 1-17 in 2021-22.
 
"I'd like to express how proud I am of the effort and belief the 17 players put in all season," said MacEwan head coach Chris Wandler. "We strived to be a little better than we were last year and to take incremental steps to get to where we are right now. We did a good job all year of being really good learners of the game, learning a bit about ourselves, and being good teammates and what it takes to succeed at this level, so I am very proud of the effort."
 
Sisters Gabrielle and Lauren Attieh led UFV with 10 kills each. Gabrielle also served three aces. Caitlin Bitter had 30 assists, while Emily Matsui posted 17 digs. 
 
Leading the way for MacEwan, Arden Butler and Alyshia Bryks posted 10 kills apiece. Bryks also earned 14 digs, and Payton Shimoda had 34 assists. In a reversal from last night's contest, the Griffins out-blocked UFV 10-5. Sarah McGee was a force at the net with three solo efforts, and a pair of block assists.  
 
"We played the way we needed to play tonight," said Wandler. "There was a bit of a drastic difference from last night. Tonight, I thought we put together a heck of an effort of passing with more consistency, and we ran our offence effectively. We put in a strong effort defensively too, so I'm very pleased with the effort my crew put in."
 
The teams were level at 7-7 in the fourth set before Mo Likness recorded a kill and service ace to push the Cascades in front 12-8. Talia Attieh made it 16-11 with a kill, and while the Griffins closed to 22-19, UFV maintained enough separation to earn the victory.
 
With their season on the line, the Griffins dominated the third set. They won 10 of the first 11 points – getting kills from Kara Frith, Bryks, McGee, Butler, and Mariah Bereziuk as well as aces from Bryks and Frith. Butler stretched the gap to 16-4 for MacEwan before the teams traded 4-0 runs. Bryks knocked down a pair of kills late before Jodoin and Butler provided the final two kills in a 12-point set triumph for the Griffins. 
 
UFV needed extra points to squeak out a tight second set. With 15 points on the scoreboard for each team, the Cascades went on a 6-2 run that was capped off by a Likness kill. The Griffins responded with a 6-1 surge to take a 24-23 advantage on a Butler kill, but the hosts induced MacEwan attacking errors on the next three plays to win the set.
 
In the first set, the Cascades created some separation by winning seven of eight points to go ahead 16-10. UFV served three of its five opening-set aces in this run, with two from Bitter and one from Gabrielle Attieh. Natalie Lemoine-Sells knocked down a kill to make it 23-15. The visiting Griffins put together a late run on two kills each from Kara Frith and Danielle Jodoin to get to 23-19. 
 
The Cascades will travel to Winnipeg for a semifinal series next weekend against the No. 2-seeded Manitoba Bisons. UFV swept the regular-season series between the squads, winning 3-1 and 3-0 at home in late October.