Edmonton, AB –
Nimo Benne and
Jonas Van Huizen led the way for the Cascades offence on Friday, as the team picked up a four-set victory (25-23, 23-25, 25-16, 25-13) over the MacEwan Griffins in Edmonton.
The win pushes the Cascades to 3-8 on the season, while the Griffins drop to 0-11.
How it happened:
The teams traded points for most of the set, but the Cascades took advantage of some timely errors, and a block by
Ryan Hampe and
Silas Van Huizen to set up set point at 24-19. The Griffins would fend off four set points, before a service error finally closed it out 25-23.
The script flipped in the second set, as MacEwan took a 24-21 lead on a Daylan Andison power tip. This time, it was UFV with the late pushback, forcing the Griffins to earn it on their third set point.
The Cascades rebounded quickly, holding the Griffins to a .087 efficiency the rest of the match as they just couldn't get on the same page and UFV had all the answers. UFV grabbed a 22-13 lead in the third before cruising to the set win, and it was much the same in the fourth as they snagged a 20-9 lead enroute to finishing off the match.
Notable:
UFV's dynamic left-side duo of
Nimo Benne and Jonan Van Huizen led the Cascades with 18 and 17 kills, respectively, with the latter adding a match-high 10 digs and the former leading the way with 20.0 points. Setter
Silas Van Huizen finished with 44 assists.
The Cascades hit .470 as a team in the match on the way to the victory.
Quotable:
UFV head coach Nathan Bennett
"It was a slow start, but we managed the game pretty well I thought once we found some traction in the match. Iit was a good showing in the third and fourth, and a good rebound from the team after losing a tough battle in the second."
"Each day is it's own entity, so whatever happened today is over, and it's a fresh start tomorrow. At the end of the day, as long as the guys get their rest and recover, and they're mentally focused and prepared to compete, then we'll see how the day ends up."
Up next:
The Cascades and Griffins battle again on Saturday, with the first serve scheduled for 1pm PT live on Canada West TV.
