VANCOUVER – In an historic night, the Fraser Valley Cascades earned their first match win in Canada West competition with a four set victory (26-24, 22-25, 25-23, 25-21) over the UBC Thunderbirds Friday night at War Memorial Gym.
In front of 1400 fans in attendance for UBC’s home opener which also doubled as the team’s annual Pride Night, the visiting Cascades used some solid defensive play and untimely unforced T-Bird errors to record their first conference win, improving to 1-2 on the young season.
“Too many unforced errors, too many easy points, and I thought Fraser Valley did a good job of capitalizing on that,” said UBC Head Coach Doug Reimer. “But I give them credit, they just kept battling and playing hard. At different times there were different things going on and we definitely showed we’re not fully in sync. There will be more than enough things to look at and work on.”
The T-Birds got out to a roaring start in their first regular season set in 21 months taking a 5-1 lead thanks in large part to some stellar play at the net by second-year outside hitter Claire Cossarini.
However, UFV got themselves back in the thick of it after back-to-back UBC violations, closing the gap to 12-11. The longest rally of the match was put away with Cossarini’s fourth kill of the night, leading up to the technical timeout where the T-Birds held a three-point advantage.
UBC once again came up with the point on a long rally to go up 19-17 and eventually earned set point up by three. But the Cascades came up with some clutch play to keep themselves alive, including a Zoe Arca service ace while a key block tied it up 24-24.
A net-front dump by Grace Warkentin gave the visitors their first lead of the night and another Arca ace gave the Cascades a 26-24 first set win.
After a tight start to the second frame, the Cascades burned a timeout after Cossarini’s first of two service aces on the night. Coming out of the break, a massive double UBC block gave the ‘Birds an 8-5 advantage and they continued to roll from there, taking a 16-12 lead at the technical timeout.
But much like the first set, the Cascades rallied back, eventually taking a 21-19 lead.
Cossarini’s fifth kill of the match got UBC back level at 22-22 and an Elise Petit service ace retook the lead for the home side. This time, the ‘Birds closed things out and on their first attempt, evened things up at one set apiece with the 25-22 second set win.
The Cascades held a 16-15 advantage in the third set, but this time it was the T-Birds who came out of the break on a roll, going ahead 23-20 after an 8-4 run.
But a timely timeout call by UFV saw the visitors score the next five points, mimicking their opening frame come-from-behind victory, to go back in front after three.
The fourth, and as it turns out the final, set Friday night saw the Cascades battle back from an early deficit to take a 16-14 lead at the technical timeout.
With the Thunderbirds trailing 20-15, a Cossarini cross-court kill, one of her team leading 13 in the match, helped spark a late UBC surge to get back within a point. But the Cascades were able to finish off the 25-21 set to complete their historic win.
“In many years that first match of the season can go like that, whereas (the Cascades) had a couple league games under their belt,” added Reimer. “But that won’t take away the sting for us. There were elements of very good play, but in volleyball it doesn’t take much if you’re off just a little bit.
UFV finished the night with 62 total digs, led by Sadie Wilson and Emily Matsui who each put up 14.
The T-Birds did out-hit the Cascades with a .242 attack percentage to Fraser Valley’s .223, but UBC’s 19 service errors turned out to be a factor.
The large home opener crowd was on hand to not only celebrate the start of the first T-Birds season in nearly two years, but also the inclusiveness that Pride Night is all about.
“In the big picture here, I’m very proud of UBC, we were the first team to run a pride night a number of years ago, and now it’s a big tradition,” said Reimer, putting things in perspective. “Having the chance to engage on these types of topics has been meaningful for our team and I hope we can model the way forward for younger players, coaches, and the community in general at UBC.”
Saturday the two new conference rivals will meet for the second half of the weekend doubleheader with first serve at War Memorial set for 5 p.m. PT. Tickets are available and the match will be streamed live on Canada West TV.