It was a big four games for the College of the Rockies men’s volleyball team.
The Avalanche went 4-0, for the first time since they started doing four games in four days on their road trips.
The team started their trip against Columbia Bible College on Jan. 17-18 winning 3-1 and 3-2 respectively.
Next up was the University of Fraser Valley on Jan. 19-20, where the Avalanche continued their dominance and won 3-0 and 3-1 respectively.
“I was extremely happy,” said head coach Cisco Farrero. “We talked beforehand about going for every single match for the opportunity to really solidify our position in the standings and with our play. We wanted to play good and get something out of it.”
Having four wins in four days, Farrero said there were multiple players who had tremendous performances.
“Mark Armstrong took his serving to a whole other level. As a setter there is only so many ways you can score, and he had 25 aces this weekend — a huge part of the weekend was his ability to absolutely destroy teams from the service line,” he said.
Armstrong leads the PACWEST in service aces per set at 0.58.
Outside hitter and Cranbrook native Caleb Peters was named as volleyballs athlete of the week by PACWEST.
“He had around 70 kills in four matches at over four kills a set,” said Farrero, noting he is one of the PACWEST leaders in kills per set at 3.44.
“Caleb has had a dynamic offensive season so far. he is extremely physically talented and physically strong. He is also fearless, I know at the end of every set no matter if he’s having his best performance or struggling a little bit, I know when we need a big kill at the end of the set he’s going to get it for us.”
While those players had big games, Farrero says it wasn’t just them carrying the team, there were multiple players who really stepped up, including Breno Fabbri, Gustavo Bertoli, Kyle Butchart and more.
“And then we had a bunch of different players come off the bench and do rolls that helped us to get through the weekend,” he added.
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Being able to get four wins on the road was an accomplishment for the team.
“No College of the Rockies volleyball team has ever won four games on the road in one weekend in the history of the college, so that was a groundbreaking performance for us. We weren’t perfect at any point, but we were really resilient and sometimes winning on the road is about being mentally tough, so that’s what I’m most proud of,” said Farrero.
The Avalanche are now 8-10 on the season, with 16 points. They will look to continue their momentum against Capilano University on Jan. 25 and 26.
“I think we definitely need to build on a bunch of the things we did well on the road, but I think we can still play better. It’s going to take a better ball control performance to beat Capilano,” said Farrero.
This is the final home match of the regular season for the Avalanche until they host the PACWEST 2019 Volleyball Championships.
“We’ve been good at home but we haven’t broken through any of the top teams, and this is our last chance to do it on our home court before conference championships. So, I’m really looking forward to seeing how we seize that opportunity,” said Farrero.
First serve on Jan. 25 will be 8 p.m., and on Jan. 26 it will be 3 p.m. both at the College of the Rockies gym.
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