Heading into the weekend, the UFV’s men’s volleyball team held a record of 2-2. The Cascades started out the season with two wins against Columbia Bible College, but were unable to claim a win against Vancouver Island University in their two games.
This weekend the Cascades were at home, hosting the College of the Rockies Avalanche in a two-game series. The first game took place Saturday, where the Cascades came out eager to add another point to the win column. In the first set, the teams were evenly matched. With the Cascades hungry for the lead, they were just able to grab the set point with a score of 25-23. During the second set the two teams once again fought for every play, but fortunately for the Cascades, the second set ended with the same score as the first.
In Saturday’s third set, it looked as if the Cascades were about to have another close match; however, the Cascades were able to take the tight score of 17-15 for the Avalanche, and add another 10 points to the Avalanche’s one. With a score of 25-18, the Cascades won their third set of the game, and took home the win.
With a dominating win against the Avalanche already behind them in the weekend, the Cascades headed into Sunday’s game strong and confident. As the first set started, the Avalanche took an early 3-1 lead, but once the Cascades took the lead, they were able to keep it until the set ended. Starting the second set, UFV found themselves down early once again. This time, the Avalanche were able to increase their lead by 10, with a score of 21-11. Although the Cascades were able to cut the score differential in half with a score of 23-18, the Avalanche found two more points, winning their first set of the match.
In similar fashion to the first two sets, the next two sets would see each team picking up a point. In the third, both teams were eager to claim the point, but after the game sat at 20-19 in favour of UFV, the Avalanche were only able to grab another two points to UFV’s five points. With the Cascades claiming two of the first three sets, UFV battled to end the game in the fourth. Although the Cascades fought for every point, the Avalanche would not let up. Late in the match, after a 23-23 tie, the Avalanche got two more points, resulting in them winning the set.
With the fifth and final set, the Cascades were able to take the lead 2-1, but once the Avalanche took the next point, they did not subside. Although UFV’s Landon Uy and Dylan Neudorf were able to add two late-game points onto the board for the Cascades, the Avalanche were able to answer with two of their own, resulting in the Avalanche taking the last match 15-8 and the overall game 3-2.
As each team over the weekend picked up a win, the Cascades ended the weekend with a record of 3-3. Next weekend, the Cascades will once again be hosting a pair of games at Envision Financial Centre on the Abbotsford campus. On Friday, Nov. 1 and Saturday, Nov. 2 they will be taking on the Camosun Chargers at 8 p.m. and 3 p.m. respectively.
Image: UFV Athletics
Photograph: Landon Uy
