Staying the course is a great mantra. It not only perfectly describes the UFV Cascades men’s volleyball team as they set course on the 2025-26 season, but it also inspires hope toward reaching their long-term goal of a playoff berth. Though there may be rough seas as the team weathers the storm and finds its legs, this is a rebuilding team that is negotiating the departures of program stalwarts Jonas Van Huizen and Nimo Benne.
Confidence is everything. Teams and players go into seasons riding a confident high, only to have that feeling slowly drained with every loss like air leaving a balloon. While this may be a cause for panic, it is important for teams to realize that if hard work is consistent in their training, then the results will come in relation to their competitive cycle.
This could not ring any truer for UFV men’s volleyball. The team opened the season against the Trinity Western Spartans and Winnipeg Wesmen, two of the top 10 nationally ranked teams at the time of writing. An 0-4 record and zero sets won to start the season is not ideal for the team after the first two weeks, but Head Coach Nathan Bennett acknowledged his team’s inexperience as a learning curve in the season’s early going.
“We’re getting exposed to quality teams. This season, all we’re looking for is little improvements from week to week.”
Roster turnover is a difficult transition; new voices needed to emerge from the locker room to lead the team through adversity. One of those voices this season is left side hitter, Comrie Engbers. Engbers is no stranger to facing adversity, as the fourth-year player has been working through a prolonged injury since last season. Engbers always had the desire to come back and play volleyball, despite the possibility of the sport being taken away from him during the rehab process.
“To be honest, for the first stretch [of injury], I wasn’t sure if I’d be playing again,” said Engbers. “The motivation was [that] I don’t want to have a bum knee for the rest of my life. Once the rehab was on the right track, and I realized I’m doing well, I was excited to get back on the court.”
Being both a fourth-year player and a leader comes with a lot of responsibility on and off the court. Engbers is growing into his new role leading the team, just like the rest of this UFV roster is growing into theirs. The team has eight first-years making up just under half of the roster, meaning that the team will rely on the veteran experience of Engbers to lead them through their growing pains.
“[We’ve] got to keep our heads up. It’s obviously frustrating, but we can’t have too high of expectations for ourselves to the point where it shatters our ego. If we keep our heads up and keep working hard, good things will happen.”
The drive to come back and compete displays the type of leadership that the Cascades are looking for. Although this season may be focused on development for future Cascades seasons, Engbers and the team don’t plan on going down without a fight.
“[You] never want to count yourself out. It’s gonna take some work — we’ve got to be better than this — we [have] got to turn things around fast, or it’s gonna be a long season.”
And while the results may not yet be presenting themselves in the win column, the team is building up a solid foundation of resilience to compete with the best of the best in Canada West in the coming years.
