We hope you’re hungry!
When a team has a leader both inside the locker room after a tough loss and on the court with electrifying play, then coaches can rest easy. Luckily for the Cascades women’s volleyball team, they are in good hands with the veteran talents of Zoe Arca, Lauren Attieh, and Cailin Bitter leading the team on the court.
The end of last season was tough to swallow. The Cascades women’s volleyball team dominated the 2024-25 Canada West regular season, finishing with a record of 17-3 and tied for first place in the conference. But the playoffs told a different story, as the top ranked Cascades fell two games to one in the quarter-finals to the eighth place Saskatchewan Huskies. What made the series particularly bitter was that the Cascades were losing valuable veteran pieces in Emily Matsui, Mo Likness, and Alicja Hardy-Francis to graduation. Coming into the 2025-26 season, the Cascades needed someone to fill those vacancies. In stepped Arca, a fifth-year middle out of Delta and earned an increased role this season.
“Zoe [Arca]’s the kind of leader who’s really smart. She follows game plans well, [and] she knows what the opponent is doing,” said Coach Janelle Rozema.
Having dependable players on your roster to step up and take on a bigger role is a testament to the depth of the Cascades program. Despite the team dropping the first two matches of the season 3-0 against Trinity Western, Rozema and her squad used their second week bye to make adjustments accordingly.
“We had a few key concepts we just had to be better at,” she explained to The Cascade.
“Against Trinity Western, we had a poor serving game, and serving is just too important of a skill. So, the last two weeks we’ve been doing a lot of adaptation with our serving and using serve more as a weapon.”
That weapon was ready for battle against Regina, as the team’s weekend total of 28 aces (13 and 15) propelled them to back-to-back 3-1 victories.
With veteran players like Attieh at the helm for her final season, UFV’s bounce back was not a matter of if, but when. Great leaders are not only able to bring the best out of their teammates, but can also recognize the importance of team comradery on the court. Luckily for Attieh, she had her older sister, Gabrielle Attieh to look up to as a teammate and a leader.
“[I] think the biggest lesson that I learned from her is the power of kindness. Anytime another teammate of hers made a point or did something amazing, it wasn’t just them feeling it — it was her feeling it too. She wore her heart on her sleeve that way, and that’s something I hope my teammates feel — when they win a point, it’s not just theirs, it’s ours as a team.”
It is not just Attieh who fills out the stat sheet, as fellow fifth-year Cailin Bitter has served as strong support for Cascades volleyball, putting up three service aces alongside a team leading 71 assists over two games against Regina. L. Attieh calls Bitter the hardest working athlete on the team. And with the grit that Bitter brings to the table alongside the natural leadership ability of L. Attieh, this team is in good hands for the rest of the season.
With the team’s newfound approach to serving, and a balanced leadership group stationed from front row to back, the Cascades are writing a new story and once again showing that they have the appetite to be one of the elite teams in the country.
