The men’s Avs were in tough during their recent road trip to Vancouver Island, dropping four straight games to Vancouver Island University and Camosun College.
Like the women, the men showed signs of fatigue in their first match last Thursday against VIU, before sharping up their game in a rematch the following day.
The Avs picked it up against Camosun, but the Chargers is a very hot team that is in the top 10 national CCAA rankings, according to men’s head coach Steve Kamps.
“All weekend, we just couldn’t seem to find our game,” Kamps said. “It’s always tough when you travel on the road and especially that far out to the Island—I don’t want to use that as an excuse, but we just didn’t have the energy, especially the first night against VIU.”
Despite the fatigue, the Avs took a set on Thursday against the Mariners, before getting blanked 3-0 on Friday.
The matches against the Chargers were tighter, but the Avs fell 3-0 on Saturday and 3-1 on Sunday.
“We met a red hot team that couldn’t do anything wrong, a very balanced team and there’s a reason why they’re ranked number seven in Canada—a very talented squad,” said Kamps.
“Even if we were playing as good as we could, I don’t think we were going to beat them that day.”
Sunday’s match was the best performance of the weekend, as the Avs took away a set and left everything on the court, Kamps added.
“The guys put everything on the floor and we rebounded and had a very, very strong performance, unfortunately, we came up just short in four sets,” Kamps said, but I think another day, when that’s not the fourth game in four days, and maybe in our gym as well, I think we win that one.
“Overall, I think it was a good way to finish the road trip and it left a better taste in our mouths in the sense that we played well and performed well.”
