Vancouver Island University Mariners men’s volleyball squad took a pair of B.C. Colleges’ Athletic Association opponents to the limit on the weekend but wound up on the wrong side of the score.
The M’s dropped a five-set match (19-25, 27-25, 19-25, 25-23 and 13-15) to the University of Fraser Valley Cascades, in what co-coach Rob Barcelos described as a disappointing result.
“The first time we played UFV we handled them quite easily,” he said. “They lost their big guy this semester and we thought this might be a similar result to the first match.”
But it wasn’t to be as VIU struggled with its serve late in the sets.
“In two of the games we gave them crucial points to win and that just kills any momentum you might build,” said Barcelos. “The guys played well and for the most part served tough and we kept our errors down.”
The M’s finished the match with nine aces and 35 digs. Barcelos gave a nod to Joel Holder, who had 23 kills, three aces and nine digs, and Lee Hamilton who finished with 11 kills and one ace.
Second place was on the line Saturday against the Columbia Bible College Bearcats and again VIU came up short in a five-set match losing 25-27, 25-21, 25-22, 20-25, 11-15.
Barcelos said Saturday was on par with Friday as the M’s again had issues serving late in the match.
“Our defending was nearly as close as it was on Friday and our power hitters weren’t able to put the ball away because Columbia blocks so well,” he said. “But we can learn from matches like that and move forward.”
The Mariners women’s team won both matches on the weekend, defeating UFV 25-14, 25-19, 22-25 and 25-15.
Danielle Hyde, VIU assistant coach, said Friday wasn’t the team’s best effort but UFV played well.
“I think we’ve slipped into expecting things to be easy rather than working hard for them,” she said. “We’ll have to get back to that with the opponents well be facing in the coming weeks.”
The Mariners swept the Bearcats in three sets (25-15, 25-15, 25-21). “We got the job done,” said Hyde. “It’s never easy to win three straight.”
The M’s are at home Friday (Jan. 28) against Douglas College and play Capilano University Saturday (Jan. 29).
On Friday the women play at 6 p.m. and the men go at 7:45 p.m. Saturday’s matches start at 1 p.m. and 2:45 p.m.
news@nanaimobulletin.com
