The snow that plagued the Fraser Valley finally started to melt and clear the roads, and graciously, the varsity teams that played over the weekend came out with wins and smiles across their faces.
Our women’s volleyball team earned a weekend sweep against TRU in Kamloops. Winning the Friday bout 3-2, they only needed three sets Saturday to clear out the Wolfpack 3-0. Amanda Matsui had a triumphant return to court after recovering from an injury with 21 kills in both games. Sadie Wilson and Kristen McBride both scored five kills apiece each game over the weekend, providing extra support on defense with multiple blocks each as well. The Cascades started off a little cool on Friday night, needing to play out all five sets of the match before coming out on top, but closed Saturday night in three closely scoring sets.
The Cascades basketball teams both played against the TWU Spartans over the last weekend, finishing both teams’ new year trilogy of games against the Langley team. The Cascades both took losses on Friday, Jan 21, but rallied back with twin wins on Saturday, both teams with large score gaps.
Friday’s games were a double loss for the Cascades men and women basketball teams, both the Spartans teams outsourcing the Cascades across all four quarters of play in Abbotsford. The Cascades men suffered a 97-87 loss against the Spartans on Jan 21; TWU’s Mason Bourcier earned a triple-double with 15 points, 13 assists, and 12 rebounds. Zubair Seyed, for the Cascades, continued his now three-game-long over-10 scoring streak, with 15 points. Vick Toor and Jake Willemsen topped the Cascades scoring that night with 14 and 16 points respectively.
The Cascades and Spartans women’s first installment of their trilogy for first place on Jan. 13 ended in a blowout 70-47 victory for the Cascades. Friday’s game on the 21 was the Spartan’s payback, knocking down the Cascades 68-52, even with Julia Tuchscherer leading the Cascades’ scoring with 18 points, and starting a second-half charge for the home team. But the Spartan’s early lead and all five starters scoring above double-digits proved too much to overcome in a single night.
Saturday night’s rematches ended the basketball mirror trilogies with double wins for the Cascades. Vick Toor and Kyle Claggett scored 19 points apiece in the high-scoring 102-88 victory. Jordyn Sekhon ignited the Cascades by raining down four three-pointers in the second quarter and ending the night with a double-double by 11 rebounds and a season-high 16 points. Mason Bourcier for TWU earned another triple-double, but the Spartans were too far behind.
The Cascades women showed the Spartans why opposing teams have a low shooting percentage, with an all but suffocating 58-39 win Saturday night, only letting one of the Spartans’ players score over 10 points throughout the contest. Maddy Gobeil earned 17 points through the contest, and Deanna Tuchscherer led the defense with 11 rebounds. Madison Draayers, UFV’s 3rd-year forward, had a good offensive performance alongside Julia Tuchscherer who both picked up 11 points Saturday night. The Spartans end the weekend still holding onto the western division’s first place spot by only half of a game. With the tally of losses shared, the Cascades have the first chance to break the tie this weekend against the UNBC Timberwolves in Prince George.
Varsity sports fans have another basketball-filled weekend as both the men’s and women’s teams visit Prince George on Jan 28 and 29 to play UNBC. Volleyball takes another small hiatus until next weekend, as the month of romance and tears opens with rescheduled basketball games for both the men’s and women’s teams on Feb. 3 and, hopefully, a return of both volleyball teams to the home court on Feb. 4 and 5.
To catch up on more of the UFV teams’ stats and to learn the schedule and where to watch the games, visit gocascades.ca.
Photo: 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.