Photo courtesy of Matt Carter
Mariners Protect Home
In a battle for first on Friday night the VIU Mariners flexed their muscle and made quick work of the Douglas Royals in a three-set sweep with scores of 31-29, 25-11 and 25-23.
Offensively Emma Schill led the way against her former school collecting 11 kills and Aimee Skinner balanced out the attack with 10 kills while Grace Brisbois added six.
Schill was great defensively as well making 15 digs and setter Linnea Brickwood collected 12.
Saturday afternoon was the rematch with the Royals coming out setting a blistering pace. They captured the first two sets 25-19 and 25-16 and were seemingly in the driver seat…cue the comeback.
The Mariners showed great heart battling in the third set with a 25-20 victory and started to gain momentum. They kept it rolling in the fourth set, winning 25-16 and forced the tiebreaker. The fifth and deciding set went back and forth before the Mainers completed the comeback winning 15-13 in dramatic fashion.
They were led by Schill again with 15 kills and she added 15 more digs for an impressive weekend. Brisbois was also solid with 13 kills and 15 digs, while Mika Yamada was everywhere on the defensive side collecting a match-high 20 digs.
Next weekend the Mariners (10-2) will travel to face the COTR Avalanche (3-11) and the Royals (7-7) will host the CBC Bearcats (5-7).
Trading Sweeps
The COTR Avalanche finally got back in the win column on Friday night with a three-set sweep of the visiting Camosun Chargers. They had lost six-straight before winning 25-19, 25-22 and 25-21.
Offensively the Avalanche were led by Abby Betker who collected 14 kills and Rose Howard added 11 more and had two aces. Setter Winter Knudsgaard had 27 assists in the victory.
In the rematch on Saturday the Chargers completely turned the tide taking the attack to the Avalanche and it paid off with a three-set sweep of their own. They stopped the Avalanche 25-20, 25-22 and 25-16.
Next weekend the Avalanche (3-11) will stay at home and host the VIU Mariners (10-2) and the Chargers (7-5) will welcome the Capilano Blues (6-6) to being six straight at home.
This article is shared as part of our Fair Dealing Policy. For the original article, please visit: http://pacwestbc.ca/sports/wvball/2023-24/releases/20240122-Release-WVB-Week8-RECAP