February, a controversial month that, like the new and budding romances Hallmark likes to cater to, shows tests in nature. The weather embodies the sunshine and trauma that some hearts must face through the month of love, as they fight through the woes of winter in hopes of being renewed come spring.
For varsity sports, this February has had many emotional ups and downs for our teams. Our women’s volleyball and basketball teams warmed our hearts with wins over the weekend. Sadly, for the Cascades men’s teams, February has been more down than up for them as the men’s basketball team won two out of three of their road games and the men’s volleyball team took triple losses.
Amanda Matsui led the women’s volleyball team to another weekend sweep in their first conference home openers last weekend. Matsui scored more than 30 kills between the two games and was named one of Canada West’s players of the week Tuesday. Rookie Mo Likness played two fantastic games, coming up big whenever the team needed her. The Cascades only lost one set on Friday and closed the night out 3-1. Saturday’s match had both teams going the distance. The sets were scrappy, the teams nearly scoring point-by-point and run-by-run throughout the match, until the Cascades finally beat the Wolfpack in the fifth set. The double wins mark a four-game winning streak for the Cascades, whose record is now 5-5, and they start looking towards the playoffs.
The double dates between the Cascades’ and Thompson Rivers’ basketball teams were rescheduled to Feb. 3 and left both the UFV teams with wins. The men’s 80-76 win saw Dylan Kinley have a career-high 22 points at the end of all four quarters. Zubair Seyed continued his hot streak with 17 points and an impactful court presence throughout the game. Dario Lopez, the freshman, was one rebound away from earning a double-double, but scored the last-minute bucket, and clutched the game.
Over the weekend, the men’s team faced the UBCO Heat in Prince George and lost 91-79 to the home team. Even with Seyed’s 25 points, the early lead that the Heat was able to gain, combined with the dominant three-point shooting throughout the night, left the men’s team feeling heartless the rest of the night. Jordyn Sekhon dropped a 30 point bomb Sunday afternoon, with nearly perfect shooting all around the court. Sekhon led the Cascades to clinch third place in their division with the 97-79 win.
The Cascades women’s basketball team played their only game on Feb 3 — a solid game won 68-56 against TRU. While the game wasn’t as dominant and fluid as fans expected from the Cascades women, the team played solidly. Deanna Tuchscherer scored 24 points and six rebounds, and Maddy Gobeil earned another double-double, scoring 15 points and 10 rebounds. The women’s basketball team looks to regain their dominant form as they head to the city and the island for a pair of dates this weekend against UBC on Feb. 11 and UVic on Feb. 12. The women’s team has a good hold on the second place, but the two extra wins will help keep their chances to win Canada West strong.
The next couple of weeks will test the basketball and volleyball teams. The men’s volleyball team will play a rescheduled game against TRU in Kamloops on Feb. 9, then head back home to play UBC alongside the women’s teams on Feb. 11 and 12.
Image: Gibi Saini / UFV Athletics
Teryn Midzain is an English Major with ambitious goals to write movies and a full-time nerd, whose personality and eccentrics run on high-octane like the cars he loves. More importantly, Teryn loves sports [Formula One], and doesn’t care who knows. When not creating and running deadly schemes in his D&D sessions, Teryn tries to reach the core of what makes the romantic and dramatic World of Sports, the characters and people that make the events so spectacular.
