“UFV? No chance.”
Four years later, McCarthy is one of the lone bright spots on a winless Cascades team in transition. UFV’s offense runs through him, as the 6-foot-6 outside hitter ranks fourth in the country in total attacks per set (at the time of writing) — a clear indicator of just how much UFV relies on its captain.
McCarthy spent his first two years of eligibility at UBC prior to his transfer to UFV. Once Bennett had lured McCarthy’s close friend Easton Sarich to the Cascades, McCarthy decided it was also time for a fresh start to revitalize his U SPORTS careers.
In his first year with the Cascades, McCarthy achieved his primary focus of playing regularly and contributing on the court, though his role looked different from what he was used to. He comes from a talented family of athletes; his older brother Flynn is a professional volleyball player on the Canadian national team, and his sister Ellie was a prolific basketball player at MacEwan university. With Nimo Benne and Jonas Van Huizen occupying the outside positions, McCarthy was forced to the right side, an unnatural position.
This season though, McCarthy is back in his natural left side position, and because of that puts added pressure on himself.
“At the start of the year, in preseason, I kind of knew that I [could] be one of the better players in this whole country. And now [I’ve] got to hold myself to that standard — I need to be the best,” McCarthy said.
Since then, he’s taken the same approach as his team: to get a little bit better week by week. While the Cascades have been outmatched most weekends this season, evident in their 0-16 record (as of Feb. 4), McCarthy’s remaining goal for this season is to get his squad into the win column.
“It’s hard for me to think of actual benchmarks for this team,” he said. “We’ve kind of taken a step back, which is unfortunate, but I think a good goal is to just keep on improving this team and building the foundation for the years to come. When guys get older and we get more recruits and whatnot. So I think just trying to get better every day is going to be the most important thing for this team.”
Some of the best players in Bennett’s program — including Benne and Van Huizen — arrived as transfers, and with McCarthy and Sarich now in their fourth years, Bennett’s ability to replenish the lineup will be tested. UFV will cross their fingers the coach can once again persuade underutilized players in need of a fresh start to come to the Fraser Valley. While a winless season might dampen the program’s short term optimism, McCarthy noted that his coach hasn’t always been dealt the best hand.
“I definitely believe in him,” McCarthy said. “At the end of the day, it’s on the players, and there’s only so much he can do. And I think he’s done a lot for us this year and kind of [pushed] us in the direction. But I really think it comes down to us as players. I think we need to realize that we’re U SPORTS athletes, and we’re all good — and we [have] to start playing like that.”
