The UFV Cascades men’s volleyball team has started the season off on a high note.
The men opened with a win over the Capilano Blues on Oct. 15, and followed that up with two 3-0 wins over cross-town rivals the Columbia Bible College Bearcats on Thursday and Friday.
UFV won (25-19, 25-19, 25-18) on Thursday at Columbia Place, and then followed that up with (25-20, 26-24 and 25-21) wins at home on Friday.
Cascades men’s head coach Kyle Donen said he has liked his team’s start, but there is still room for improvement.
“I didn’t think we were as strong as the night before,” he said following Friday’s win.
“They played better, but we needed to be more consistent. We gave up a few more points that I would have liked, especially on serving.
“But it’s still a W for us. We just need to know we can be better than we showed and continue to improve this coming weekend.”
Outside hitters Joel Kleingeltink and Ben Friesen hammered 10 kills apiece to spearhead the offence, and Donen praised Dayton Pagliericci’s strong all-around performance.
The men are one of three undefeated teams in the PacWest, and challenge one of those teams for a pair of games on Friday and Saturday. The club travels to Nanaimo to take on the Vancouver Island University, with both games occurring at 8 p.m.
The Bearcats also travel to Vancouver Island to take on the Camosun Chargers on Friday and Saturday.
It was a different story for the battle between the women’s Bearcats and Cascades teams, as home court proved to be the deciding factor in the two-game series.
CBC won in four sets on Thursday (20-25, 30-28, 25-23 and 28-26), and the Cascades bounced back on Friday to sweep the Bearcats (25-9, 25-18 and 25-14).
“Hitters just made better choices today,” said Cascades women’s head coach Mike Gilray. “We dropped our errors from 61 to 26, and our passing and serving were on par with our standards. We made the key serves today – we probably missed the same amount (in total), but we kept them under pressure.
“The ability to respond the next day shows the character of the team – working to get better each day and not beating themselves up after having a game where they didn’t show up. I was impressed with the changes they were willing to make to be a better team.”
The Bearcats’ record is now one win and three losses, and the Cascades have one win and two losses after two weeks of PacWest action.
CBC takes on Camosun, and UFV battles VIU on Friday and Saturday respectively.
