The University of the Fraser Valley men’s wrestling team earned a bronze medal in its first trip to the Canada West championship.
Competing at the University of Calgary’s Jack Simpson Gym on Friday and Saturday, the CIS No. 1-ranked Cascades combined for six individual medals and 40 points. That left them in third place behind the No. 4 Alberta Golden Bears (45) and the No. 8 Saskatchewan Huskies (43).
The Winnipeg Wesmen (39) and host Calgary Dinos (38) were in the mix for a medal, too. All five teams came in ranked in the top 10 nationally, and when the dust settled on Saturday, just seven points separated them.
“All around, I’m proud of our team,” said Raj Virdi, who serves as Cascades co-coach with Arjan Bhullar. “There were a couple matches that we lost where we shouldn’t have. But when you’re at a championship, those things can happen. I guess today just wasn’t our day.”
The Phulka brothers, Jasmit and Chanmit, led the charge for the Cascades. Jasmit won his third Canada West individual gold medal of the season, finishing atop the 82 kg class, while older brother Chanmit turned in a gritty performance to claim the 100 kg crown. He suffered a shoulder subluxation during his match with Alberta’s Daniel Oloumi, but popped it back in himself and rallied from a 7-0 deficit to win 10-8. Virdi said he was blown away by the performance.
The Cascades also picked up four individual silver medals, courtesy Aso Palani (61 kg), Devin Purewal (72 kg), Brad Hildenbrandt (90 kg) and Manheet Kalhon (120 kg). All four will join the Phulkas at the CIS national championships in Edmonton in two weeks’ time, by virtue of their podium finishes.
The UFV women’s team finished in sixth place with four points.
Hoopsters split with WolfPack
The Cascades basketball teams both earned impressive wins over the Thompson Rivers WolfPack on Friday, only to drop hard-fought decisions in Saturday’s rematches.
The women’s squad notched a signature victory in the opening game of the weekend, handing the CIS No. 10-ranked WolfPack just their second loss of the regular season, 70-57. Nataliia Gavrliuk poured in a game-high 21 points, and Sarah Wierks notched a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
TRU bounced back with a 58-54 win on Saturday, as Wierks, Celeste Dyck and Katie Brink scored 13 points apiece for the Cascades. Wierks added 12 rebounds for her 18th double-double of the season, tying a Canada West record. She also set single-season conference marks for total rebounds (307) and rebounding average (15.4), and finished atop the Canada West scoring list with 19.2 points per game.
The UFV women (12-8) will face the Regina Cougars, the sixth-place finisher from the Pioneer Division, in a best-of-three first-round playoff series this weekend in Abbotsford. Games run Friday (6 pm), Saturday (6 pm) and Sunday (2 pm, if necessary) at the Envision Athletic Centre.
The Cascades men blasted the WolfPack 83-62 on Friday behind 22 points and 12 rebounds by Kadeem Willis, but the WolfPack came back the next day to grind out a 76-69 victory in a game they had to win to secure a playoff berth. UFV’s Kevon Parchment scored 17 points and Jasper Moedt had 14 points and 14 boards.
UFV (17-3) won the Explorer Division regular-season title and will be the No. 2 overall seed in the Canada West playoffs. They have a first-round bye and will host a best-of-three quarter-final series beginning Feb. 27 against the winner of this week’s Calgary Dinos-Manitoba Bisons series.
Fifth-year graduating players Wierks, Dyck, Willis and Moedt were honoured in a Senior Night ceremony between games on Saturday.
Big road wins for volleyballers
Taking on the Capilano Blues on the road, the UFV volleyball teams also posted weekend splits. The wins, though, were very significant.
The Cascades men won in four sets on Friday to snap an 11-game losing streak, behind big offensive outings from Adam Chaplin (13 kills) and Joel Kleingeltink (12 kills), and 16 digs from Isaiah Dahl.
They dropped a four-set decision the next night, but their win put them in position to clinch a playoff berth after the College of the Rockies Avalanche suffered a weekend sweep at the hands of the Camosun Chargers. UFV is fifth in the PacWest at 7-15 this season.
The Cascades volleyball women suffered a three-set defeat on Friday, but rebounded on Saturday to blitz the CCAA No. 9-ranked Blues in three sets. It was an extremely impressive performance for UFV, which snapped a four-game losing skid and leveled its record at 11-11.
The Cascades volleyball teams wrap up the regular season with a home-and-home series against the Columbia Bible College Bearcats, their crosstown rivals. Games run Friday at CBC and Saturday at UFV (women 6 pm, men 8 pm both nights).
For more information, contact Dan Kinvig at dan.kinvig@ufv.ca
02/20/2015