Langley, BC - The USPORTS No. 5 ranked UFV Cascades took down the Trinity Western University Spartans in five sets on Thursday, closing it out with set scores of 25-20, 24-26, 25-23, 22-25, and 15-13.

The win moves the Cascades to 15-2 on the season, at the top of the Canada West standings, while the Spartans fall to 6-11 to sit in ninth. 

How it happened:
The first set was even early with the teams tied 13-13. Then the Cascades went on a 5-0 run to create separation and lead 18-13. From there, it was mostly side-out ball as UFV took the opening set 25-20, to lead 1-0. 
 
The Spartans had a strong start to the second set and at the midway point led 15-11. But after a UFV timeout, the Cascades went on an 8-2 run to lead 19-17. Fraser Valley went up 22-19, but the Spartans responded with four straight points, and after a Plouffe kill and a Cascade attack error had set a point at 24-22. UFV took the next two points with kills from Lauren and Talia Attieh to tie the set at 24-24. But TWU's Plouffe responded with her one pair of kills to give TWU the second set 26-24 and even the match at 1-1. 
 
The third set was even till 12-12 when TWU used a 6-2 run to take an 18-14 lead. UFV rallied to cut the lead to one point, 18-17 after a Lauren Attieh kill. TWU took the next two points to lead 20-17 after a Boldon kill. The Cascades went on another run to take the lead 22-21 after a Lauren Attieh service ace. The two teams went back and forth, but the Cascades would find the final three points of the set capped off by a Mandi Feist kill. 
 
The Spartans took a 10-5 lead after a kill by Plouffe. The teams exchanged points with Boldon giving TWU a 19-15 lead as the match progressed. Two straight UFV points made it a two-point game and put TWU into a timeout with a 19-17 lead. The teams went side-out ball until Boldon put the set away with a back-row attack to give TWU the 25-22 set win and even the match at 2-2. 
 
Fraser Valley took a quick 3-1 lead in the short fifth set, but TWU came back to use a 6-1 run to take a 7-4 lead and put UFV into a timeout. After two side-out points, TWU led 8-5 at the changeover. The Cascades found momentum after the swap with a kill from Talia Attieh tying the set up at 10-10 to put TWU into a timeout. The Cascades continued their strong play and found the next two kills off the hand of Lauren Attieh to make it 12-10 and put TWU into another timeout. The Cascades closed out the set, and the match, from there playing side-out ball to win it 15-13.

Notable:
The Cascades hit a dominant .529 in the decisive set, compared to just .167 for TWU.

Talia Attieh led the way offensively for UFV, picking up 24 kills on the night, while Lauren Attieh added 19, and Cailin Bitter notched 52 assists from the setter position.

UFV's Zoe Arca had a game-high and career-high seven blocks and four aces on the night.

For TWU, Maryn Boldon led the way with 20 kills, while Kaylee Plouffe had 19.

Quotable:
UFV middle Zoe Arca

"The fire was ignited in us all game, and in that fifth set it was like we were all just blowing on that fire. We were all on the same wavelength and we all felt really together. I think we all wanted it so bad and it just paid off in the end."

"We celebrate this one tonight, and we can be proud, but we know it's another game tomorrow. We have to come with the same mindset. We stick to our plan, trusting each other and our team that we have the abilities to come back the second night with the same energy."

UFV outside hitter Lauren Attieh

"sometimes this sport can be so grueling, but I think that's connected to the paradox of how sweet it feels to win a game like that. I'm going to savour it for a little bit, but then we're back to business tomorrow."

"We have a mission right now, and coming back really strong tomorrow is part of that."

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 7:45pm at the UFV Athletics Centre, and on Canada West TV. 

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