The University of the Fraser Valley men’s wrestling team lived up to its advance billing at home, winning the Cascades Classic on Sunday at the Envision Athletic Centre.
The Cascades men, who sit No. 1 in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) national rankings, combined for seven individual medals – including three gold – en route to the aggregate title at the first-ever Canada West tournament to be held at UFV.
The Cascades finished with 51 points to outdistance the Winnipeg Wesmen (43 points) and the Saskatchewan Huskies (40), highlighted by gold medals from Aso Palani (61 kg), Chanmit Phulka (100 kg) and Manheet Kalhon (130 kg).
Aman Kaler (65 kg), Devin Purewal (72 kg) and Brad Hildenbrandt (90 kg) battled their way to silver medals, while Amrit Benning persevered through a knee injury to claim bronze at 68 kg.
“It was time-consuming, but it was well worth it since we won,” said Raj Virdi, who co-coaches the Cascades with Arjan Bhullar, reflecting on staging the Cascades’ first home tourney.
“As a coach, it’s a great feeling, especially when your athletes wrestle really well. We lost some close matches that could have gone either way, but as a team, we wrestled very well.”
On the women’s side, the NCAA Div. 2 Simon Fraser Clan won in decisive fashion, racking up 43 points, well ahead of Winnipeg (19 points) and the Alberta Pandas (18). The Cascades ended up in sixth place with three points, and Shae Corwin registered the top finish for the women’s team with a fifth-place result at 51 kg.
Men’s hoopsters see win streak snapped
The UFV men’s basketball team, ranked No. 8 in the CIS, won the opening game of their weekend set vs. the Mount Royal Cougars in Calgary, but saw their epic conference win streak snapped in the rematch.
A red-hot shooting performance by Manny Dulay powered the Cascades to an 87-65 win on Saturday — the third-year point guard drained nine three-pointers (tied for second-most in a game in Canada West history) en route to a game-high 31 points.
But on Sunday, the Cougars built a 14-point lead in the second quarter and fended off UFV down the stretch to claim a 74-72 victory despite 17 points from Dulay. It had been 435 days since the Cascades last lost a Canada West regular season game, and they’d won 29 conference tilts in a row.
The result dropped UFV’s record to 15-1, but it won’t affect their playoff seeding at all – they had already clinched first place in the Explorer Division.
Women’s basketball team bounces back
The Cascades women’s hoopsters suffered a disappointing overtime loss in their opener vs. Mount Royal, but regrouped for a crucial win.
Despite a Canada West single-game record 31 rebounds from Sarah Wierks and a career-high 29 points from Katie Brink on Saturday, UFV watched the Cougars rally from a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit and prevail 79-72 in OT.
UFV dominated the rematch, building a double-digit lead in the second quarter and steadily expanding it from there en route to a 70-51 victory. Wierks posted 20 points and 27 rebounds, while Brink and Nataliia Gavryliuk scored 19 apiece.
The Cascades gained some breathing room in the race for the third and final Explorer Division playoff spot – they’re now 9-7, three games up on the fourth-place Cougars (6-10) with four games to go for each team.
The UFV basketball teams face the UNBC Timberwolves on the road this coming weekend.
For more information, contact Dan Kinvig at dan.kinvig@ufv.ca
02/06/2015