Langley, BC - The UFV Cascades gave their playoff hopes a boost on Thursday night, as they climbed past their rivals from Trinity Western to defeat the Spartans in a five-set thriller (30-28, 21-25, 20-25, 26-24, 15-13).

With the result, the Cascades improve to 7-10 and improve their hold on the 10^th and final Canada West playoff spot. Meanwhile, the USPORTS No. 8 ranked Spartans fall to 10-7, currently good for fifth place.

How it happened:
The Spartans seemed in total control of the opening set leading 16-10 after a Cory Schoenherr kill from the middle, and 23-17 after Jackson Corneil put TWU within two points of winning the set. But the Cascades proved resilient, and after a Tyson Ardell service ace continued a 7-1 run to tie the set at 24-24. The teams played side out till 28-28 when a TWU service error and a kill by Ardell gave the Cascades the opening set 30-28. TWU hit at .367 (17-6-30), while UFV hit at .393 (14-3-38).
 
The two teams were even through the first part of the second set. Then with TWU leading 15-14 the Spartans went on a 7-3 run to take a 22-17 lead after a Kayden Schmidt kill. TWU maintained the margin as Piers De Greef put away the second set 25-21 to even the match at 1-1. 
 
The third set was similar to the second with the teams even with TWU leading 16-15. Then the Spartans used a 3-0 run to take a 19-15 lead after a De Greef kill. Fraser Valley was unable to get closer as Trinity Western closed out the set 25-20 with Spartans Rein and Schoenherr blocking the Cascades' Van Huizen to take a 2-1 set lead. 
 
The fourth set was again tight, but this time it was the Cascades who got mid-set jump. With UFV leading 15-14 the Cascades used a 6-2 run to take a 21-16 lead after a TWU attack error. TWU took three of the next four points to trail 22-19 and put UFV into a timeout. Out of the break, the Spartans again took three out of four points, to trail 23-22 after a service ace by Devin Hofsink put UFV into another timeout. An exchange of points gave UFV a set point, 24-23, after a kill by Jonas Van Huizen. A TWU service error and a kill by Nimo Benne gave the Cascades the fourth set 26-24, to tie the match at 2-2. 
 
The Spartans were in control of the fifth set early, taking an 8-4 lead at the change-over after a Kayden Schmidt kill. But out of the break, the Cascades took control and used a 7-2 run with Ardell once again at the service line, to take a one-point, 11-10 lead and put TWU into a timeout. TWU could not get back to even as a kill by Jonas Van Huizen finished the set 15-13 for the Cascades and gave UFV the 3-2 win. TWU finished the set hitting .000 (5-5-17), while UFV hit at .200 (5-2-15).

Notable:
In addition to his large serving runs at clutch moments, Ardell chipped in two aces and 11 kills, while hitting .667 in the match. Jonas Van Huizen added 20 kills and four blocks, while Nimo Benne had 14 kills and four aces in the match.

Piers De Greef had 21 kills for TWU, while John Obi had 17.

The top 10 teams make the CW postseason with a play-in round for the bottom four teams in week one. The eighth and seventh place teams will be hosts for the play-in matches, with nine at eight, and 10 at seven.

Quotable:
UFV middle Tyson Ardell

"That was a full on war. It was a long game, and we left it all on the court and I'm so happy. I love playing at the Langley Events Centre. We've had some really exciting games here against Trinity, and right now we are just proving to ourselves that we can be resilient and that's huge for us."

"I don't want this season to end anytime soon, so I'm going to go as hard as I can in these last two weeks." – Ardell on his motivation going into the team's last home game of the year.

UFV head coach Nathan Bennett

"This is two points and a win on the board, but at the end of the day it just gets us one step closer to our goal of the playoffs. We aren't there yet by any stretch of the imagination, but it gives us another step."

"It's this team all season. This is one of the most resilient groups I've ever seen, so I'm not surprised about how we can grind out matches like this." – Bennett on his team's resilience and ability to win the close sets on Thursday.

Up Next:
The Cascades and Spartans meet up again on Friday evening in Abbotsford to close out the weekend set. First serve is set for 6pm at the UFV Athletics Centre, and on Canada West TV. 

The game will also feature a post-game ceremony where the Cascades will honour their graduating senior players.