The Avs split their weekend action at the College of the Rockies, as the men dumped the visiting UFV Cascades in both matches, while the ladies surrendered both games to their opponents.
The men swept the opposition by scores of 3-1 and 3-2, as the bottom-ranked Cascades made late game surges on both nights.
The women took away one set on Friday in their 3-1 loss, but the top-ranked Cascades swept them 3-0 the following day on Saturday in a rematch.
The men handily took the first two sets on Friday, before the Cascades woke up and retaliated by winning the third. UFV pushed the Avs to a 32-30 finish in the fourth set, which sealed up the win for the hometown team.
It was more of the same on Saturday for the men, as the Avs took the opening two sets before the Cascades responded by winning the following pair, setting up a tiebreak, which the College of the Rockies took at 15-12.
“I guess both nights—Friday and Saturday—we had repeat performances. We controlled the match the first two sets and handily won them,” said men’s Avalanche head coach Steve Kamps. “On Friday I made a couple of changes that really changed the momentum that kind of let them [Cascades] back into the match but we managed to close it out.
“Saturday, same thing—we had control of the first two sets and I left the same guys out there and the same thing happened, so I think there’s more to it maybe than just the guys on the floor.”
Saturday’s match was especially tight, and Kamps singles out the play of Curtis Stockton, who was “a dominant force” out the court, getting the chance to play midway through the third set.
By the end of the match, Stockton had accumulated 17 kills.
“It was nice to have him going, and putting the ball away,” added Kamps.
The men climb up the Pacwest ladder and now sit close to the top of the rankings.
“A few big wins for us and that jumps us all the way up tied for second place, so that a nice feeling going into our last weekend, which is a four-game road trip to the [Vancouver] Island,” said Kamps.
The women struggled in their second weekend of home action, dropping both their matches to a team that sits atop the Pacwest rankings.
The Avs stole one set in their Friday match, as they fell 3-1 and the Cascades continued their success the next day by blanking the hometown ladies 3-0.
The ladies put up a fight on Friday after winning their set, making UFV earn the win by a two-point spread, but struggled on Saturday to find a rhythm as the Cascades handily took all three sets.
