The University of the Fraser Valley Cascades women’s volleyball team’s season has come to an end after falling 2-1 to the Winnipeg Wesmen in the Canada West quarterfinal round.
The best-of-three series opened in Winnipeg on Friday (Feb. 24), with the Wesmen opening with a 3-1 (25-23, 22-25, 27-25 and 25-19) win.
Game two occurred on Saturday (Feb. 25) and saw the Cascades bounce back with a 3-0 (25-20, 25-16 and 25-19) win.
UFV’s Gabrielle Attieh had a game-high 20 digs, while libero Emily Matsui picked up 19 in the victory. Rookie Natalie Lemoine-Sells added eight kills and two aces to the team’s offence.
Combined, Gabrielle Attieh’s 15 kills and Lauren Attieh’s 13 made up over half the Cascades’ 45 on the day. In contrast the Winnipeg squad was held to just 26 kills in the match.
The teams met for the decisive game three and it did not disappoint. Winnipeg pulled out the 3-2 (25-19, 23-25, 25-22, 18-25 and 15-8) to advance. Cascades head coach Janelle Rozema said the game three loss was similar to game one, as UFV struggled from the service line.
“It kinda goes back to night one and what we’ve been battling with all weekend long was our serve game,” she said. “We worked so hard to be physical in every other aspect of our (game), and then when we’re making that many errors from the service line, it’s pretty tough.”
Despite the loss, the season has to be deemed a successful one for the women’s program. The team qualified for the CW playoffs for the first time ever and finished the season at 18-6 after starting at 0-4.
“I’m really proud of our season in general” Rozema said.
“One weekend on the road doesn’t define all that we’ve accomplished, and so I think this is an excellent experience for our group and an excellent message to volleyball in Canada that we’re here, and we’re not just here to exist. We’re here to compete.”