Last weekend proved to be an abrupt end to the season for the UFV Cascades men’s and women’s volleyball teams.
Competing at the PacWest Provincials at Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo, the teams failed to win a single game and walked away from the event without a medal.
The men entered the event with a first-round bye, after a strong regular season that saw them ranked second in the league.
They opened on Friday against the Camosun Chargers, but couldn’t handle the defending champions, falling in four sets (20-25, 12-25, 25-19 and 22-25). The loss eliminated any hopes the men’s team had of reaching the nationals, but it allowed them to battle for bronze on Saturday.
UFV matched up with Douglas College in the bronze game, and quickly took a 2-1 set lead, but lost 3-2 (18-25, 25-20, 25-23, 26-28 and 8-15).
Men’s team head coach Kyle Donen said it was a disappointing end to the season.
“It wasn’t our weekend, and it wasn’t our game,” he said, after the loss to Douglas. “I hope we learned a lesson for the guys who are coming back, and for this program moving forward.”
The women were one and done in Nanaimo, falling in four sets (23-25, 21-25, 25-19 and 23-25) in round one on Feb. 23 to the College of the Rockies Avalanche.
Women’s head coach Mike Gilray said his team didn’t bring their best.
“As a coach, I’ve got to take one and say I didn’t have my team playing its best volleyball at the end of the year,” he said. “Offensively, we just didn’t connect. COTR was the better team.”
Camosun earned the men’s title and VIU won the women’s title at the event, which wrapped up on Feb. 25.
