The Avalanche men’s volleyball team had a hard road trip last weekend and now sit 0-4 in the standings.
Last Thursday saw the volleyball team fall 3-1 to Capilano University, who finished second in the PACWEST season last year.
Looking for a bounce-back game, the men’s team lost on Friday again to Capilano University 3-0.
“Capilano we could have beat them the first night, we found a way not to win the last two sets, and lost in four in a match we could have won 3-0,” said head coach Cisco Farrero.
On Saturday the men’s team tried their luck against Douglas College, who finished fourth in the PACWEST season last year but fell 3-0 to them. Back in action Sunday the men’s team had a rematch against Douglas but fell to them again 3-0.
“Douglas was pretty good against us, pretty clean. We had a real good shot Sunday. Douglas played not a perfect game, but close and we were just a little bit off, just enough to cost us the win,” said Farrero.
From the weekend road trip, Farrero said there were lots of lessons the team could take away from it.
“This is our first road trip, being a predominately team of 18 year olds,” he said. “We are young and we learned a lot of lessons going forward, I think it is going to be valuable.”
Going into this weekend’s game, Farrero says the team has been working on their side out game.
“Our reception needs to be better than it was, and our block defence. Those are things that come with cohesion and over time, and those are really important for us,” he said.
Both the men and the women’s team will have their home opener on Friday as they will play against the University of the Fraser Valley.
“We are excited, I think there is going to be some showing off what we can do in front of the home crowd,” said Farrero.
“Realistically we have to play good to have two victories. UFV is a team I think we can control, but we have to play well to do it. If we don’t play well we won’t win,” he said.
UFV men’s volleyball is 0-2 in the season, and will also be looking for their first win of the year. Farrero expects them to come out tough.
“They beat us three out of four times last year, to be honest, every match was close we were close in every game. We should know them very well they are similar characters as last year. I think we are a lot better this year and I expect us to play well at home,” he said.
Farrero said with the season now underway he is expected to see the talent develop on the team, especially since they are a younger team.
“What’s going to be important for us is cohesion, being steady,” he said.
The women will take the court at 6 p.m., and the men’s first serve is 8 p.m. on Friday. Then on Saturday, they will have a rematch as the women will go at 1 p.m., while the men will play at 3 p.m.