Both Avalanche teams put up a good fight, but in the end, the Capilano University Blues proved to be too tough to handle.
The men put up a good battle against the reigning Pacwest champions, forcing a five-set match on Friday night, but fell short in the tiebreak.
The Blues regrouped for a Saturday rematch, dispatching the Avalanche by a set score of 3-1.
The women struggled in the opening match, dropping a 3-0 set score decision. The rematch on Saturday featured closer set scores, and the ladies were very close to stealing a few sets, but the Blues prevailed.
On Friday, after dropping the first two sets 17-25, 22-25), the men roared back to win the next two (25-19, 25-20) and force the tiebreak. However, the Blues were able to pull ahead and take the tiebreak at 15-8.
On Saturday, the men traded sets at 22-25 and 25-22. However, the Blues came on after that and capture the next two at 13-25, 20-25 for the win.
"We had lulls—moments of brilliance and lulls—and that's what cost us," said Avs setter Nick Schmidt. "They have a couple good servers on those teams and we have to eliminate those runs and we didn't.
"It's tough. That's what lost us those sets and those matches."
Schmidt says the Blues fielded a good server who allowed Capilan to go on a few runs but added that his Avs put up a good fight.
"Yesterday [Friday], we had a lot of energy," Schmidt said. "I actually feel our focus was better today [Saturday] in those first two sets, we came out stronger, as opposed to yesterday.
"Yesterday was just a tough loss. We went in knowing they were a good team. We had a game plan, we executed the game plan for the most part, but some things don't go your way sometimes."