The UFV Cascades basketball and volleyball teams wrapped up the semester with a busy weekend of home games at the Envision Athletic Centre.
The men’s hoopsters had a weekend to remember, beating the MacEwan Griffins on Friday (83-73) and Saturday (95-73). They head into the Christmas break with a perfect 8-0 record in league play, and are the only unbeaten team remaining in Canada West. Their regular-season winning streak is now at 22 games dating back to last season, and they didn’t lose a regular-season game in the 2014 calendar year.
Kadeem Willis (22 points) and Dominque Brooks (20 points) were the offensive leaders for the Cascades in the first game of the weekend, and Nate Brown (27 points) and Jasper Moedt (18 points, 16 rebounds) stepped to the forefront on Saturday.
“We’re happy to get two wins, and going into the Christmas break 8-0 is a good place to be,” head coach Adam Friesen noted.
The women’s basketball team were an injury-riddled group going into the their match-ups with MacEwan, as veteran starters Nataliia Gavryliuk and Katie Brink were sidelined due to injury. Their absences loomed large as UFV fell 77-48 on Friday and 75-58 on Saturday.
Shayna Litman scored 12 points in Friday’s loss, while Sarah Wierks notched nine points and 13 rebounds. On Saturday, Wierks (15 points, 12 rebounds) and Hailey Kendall (11 points, 10 boards) both posted double-doubles.
“I think a weekend like this, as hard as the results are to take, it’s a great opportunity for some of our younger kids and some of our kids who haven’t played a lot of minutes for us this year to get their feet wet,” said head coach Al Tuchscherer, whose team is 4-4 and sits third in the Explorers Division. “I think it’ll serve us well down the road.”
Both UFV volleyball teams came out on the wrong end of weekend sweeps as they hosted the Camosun Chargers.
The Cascades women battled the Chargers to the limit both nights, but fell in five sets on both Friday and Saturday and head into the break with a 7-5 record.
Katie Peacock (14 kills) and Nicole Blandford (seven aces) were among the standouts in the opener. On Saturday, Peacock produced a team-high 16 total points, while Michelle Zygmunt had 14.
“As much as it doesn’t look like it, growth happened this weekend,” Cascades head coach Dennis Bokenfohr said on Saturday. “It was pretty fun to watch. I thought we changed tonight – we fought a lot harder late in sets.”
The UFV volleyball men dropped straight-sets decisions to a tough Chargers squad both nights.
Joel Kleingeltink paced the Cascades with nine kills on Friday, while Josh Togeretz and Robert Bauerfind had seven apiece and Robert Koenig chipped in with six kills and a team-high three blocks. Kleingeltink led the way once again on Saturday with nine kills and seven digs.
“I thought we battled a little better the first night – I don’t think we had quite the same level (on Saturday),” said head coach Kyle Donen, whose team is 6-6 heading into Christmas. “But overall, there were definitely some positives to take away from the weekend, and to take away from the whole first half of our season. That’s the thing that’s important to remember.”
All four teams take a one-month break from regular-season play and return to action in January.
For more information, contact Dan Kinvig at dan.kinvig@ufv.ca
12/06/2014