The PacWest’s first-place teams outmatched the opposition on the weekend.
Vancouver Island University’s men’s and women’s volleyball teams were winners in straight sets against the last-place Columbia Bible College Bearcats on Friday and Saturday at the VIU gym.
VIU’s men won by scores of 25-20, 25-12, 25-15 and then 25-17, 25-18, 25-21. The Mariners women won 25-18, 25-22, 25-22 and then barely broke a sweat in the rematch, winning 25-12, 25-15, 25-14.
Abe Avender, coach of the Mariners men, said he liked the way his team responded considering with the holiday break and a recent bye week, his team hasn’t played a lot of competitive volleyball.
“It was nice to see [us] cleaning up some game-play rust. It’s not like we haven’t trained in six weeks, but games are so different,” he said. “So it was nice to kind of see the guys ready to go and excited to play, too.”
The Mariners might not have been expecting a significant challenge against the Bearcats, but were still able to use the match to get better.
“You can never simulate a game no matter what you do in practice. You can call it a scrimmage, but it’s not a game,” Avender said. “So sort of a mindset of the team this year is just worry about our side and let guys on the other side of the net do what they do. That was a big focus for us, to keep pressure on by limiting our errors and allowing them to have to try to beat us.”
The weekend was also useful for the VIU men to get different guys onto the court. Avender said some of the team’s depth players are among the hardest workers.
“To be able to win fairly handily with whoever you put in, it’s a beautiful thing as a coach to look down the bench and huck anyone in and they [play] a good role in it all. So it’s perfect. It’s a great morale booster.”
GAME ON … The Mariners visit the Fraser Valley Cascades on Friday and Saturday (Jan. 27-28) and the next home matches are Feb. 3-4.
sports@nanaimobulletin.com
