By Nadine Moedt (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: September 26, 2012
The women’s volleyball team defeated SFU in a preseason scrimmage this past week, winning three of five matches.
The team played with admirable chemistry considering that this is only their second game of the season; Kierra Noot made several strong finishing serves at several critical points in the match, while middle Katie Bakgaard and power Jania Toljanich put down some awesome spikes. Sarah Russell made several spectacular diving saves late in the set, giving the team a needed boost in morale. The final match was close, both teams putting up a strong fight for every point. The Cascades took the victory 15-13.
Coach Dennis Bokenfohr was pleased with the team’s performance.
“We’re just building right now, we’ve just completed week two, and we just keep finding stuff we need to work on, building that bridge so to speak,” he said. “We get to see a lot of new players and get to see how they do in these situations.”
A key player for the team, according to Bokenfohr, was the libero, Mallory Donen. “[She] played very well in libero. Mallory’s going into year three now, she had a fantastic game tonight, played the entire game. I thought she did an excellent job.”
Kayla Bruce, a fifth year five-foot-10 middle from Surrey, regarded the game as a “building experience.”
“A lot of our fourth and fifth years actually didn’t play, a few of us are out with injuries so there were a lot of rookies and freshmen out there,” Bruce said. “I thought they played really well as a team.”
“It’s good to go out there and see who you work well with, teamwork wise. This was a good opportunity to get everyone out on the court. It’s a good way to work out the kinks and get ready for the season.”
The team is practicing daily, Monday to Friday, to get ready for the upcoming season. On September 29, the team will play against Alumni as part of the preparations. Their first game of the season is against Columbia Bible College, October 12, at the Envision Athletic Centre.
Expectations for this season are high; the team won the 2012 CCAA bronze and are the CCAA PACWEST Silver medalists. Currently the team is ranked fourth in the CCAA top 10.
